Borrowing limit increased by Rs 400 billion

by Saman Indrajith

The borrowing limit in the Appropriation Bill for this year had been increased by 400 billion rupees through an amendment approved by the Committee on Public Finance, Parliament sources said yesterday.

Sources said that an amendment to the Appropriation Act No. 07 of 2020 had been made to increase the borrowing limit from Rs. 2997 billion to Rs. 3397 billion by the Committee on Public Finance chaired by MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

At a virtual meeting of the Committee on Public Finance, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury S. R. Attygalle pointed out that an amendment to the Appropriation Act was needed to increase the borrowing limit due to the economic downturn in the country caused by the Covid-19 situation. He further said it was due to the inability to achieve the expected revenue for the year 2021, the increase in supplementary expenditure and the devaluation of the rupee in the payment of foreign currency loan services, sources said.

Attygalle said the increase in welfare expenditure during the Covid-19 pandemic had led to an increase in supplementary expenditure and Rs. 200 billion had been approved by Parliament recently as supplementary expenditure. Besides this amendment, as per the Cabinet decision taken on 27.09.2021, the Gazette notification submitted by the Minister of Finance to revoke the licensing system for white sugar which came into effect from 29 October 2020 under the Import Export (Control) Act No. 01 of 1969 was approved by the Committee on Public Finance.

Dr. Harsha de Silva stated that he had repeatedly emphasised the need for a forensic report in that regard to clarify the crisis situation in the country regarding sugar. The Chairman said that the Committee on Public Finance would be able to engage in a lengthy discussion on the matter soon after it is tabled by the Committee on Public Accounts.

State Ministers Susil Premajayantha, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Members of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva and Prof. Ranjith Bandara as well as a number of senior government officials were present at the recent Public Finance Committee meeting held online, Parliament sources said.