Govt. presents Appropriation Bill for 2023

The government yesterday presented an Appropriation Bill to Parliament, detailing allocations for ministries and departments, as the first step to presenting a budget for 2023 next month.

The Appropriation Bill, presented to the House by Minister Susil Premajayantha, has allocated 613 billion rupees to the Finance Ministry, which includes debt service costs.

The Ministry of Defence has been allocated 410 billion rupees, with the Army getting 209 billion rupees, Navy 75 billion rupees and Air Force 66 billion rupees, and a multi-task force, started by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, getting 9.8 billion rupees.

The Ministry of Public Security has been allocated 129 billion rupees, with 116 billion going to the Police. The police and military have received 539 billion rupees.

The Ministry of Health has been allocated 322 billion rupees.

The Ministry of Education has been allocated 232 billion rupees.

It is not clear whether the funds include money for provincial education and health.

The Ministry of Public Administration has been allocated 856 billion rupees of which 353 billion went to pensions.

The Ministry also runs provincial councils.

The Transport Ministry has been given 372 billion rupees.