State workers will get their July salary despite rumours

The government could pay the salaries of state employees for the month of July, a senior finance ministry official said yesterday.He said that state employees did not have to worry about their salaries for July.The government was trying to pay state employees without asking the Central Bank to print money, he said.

“There are people who are spreading a rumour that state employees will not be paid in July. This is an attempt to create unrest,” he said.

Sri Lanka had increased the number of state workers by 11 percent between 2014 and 2021, he said. The official said that the country had about 1.5 million state employees and about 86 percent of taxes had been utilised to pay their salaries and pensions in 2021, when the total government tax revenue was Rs. 1,216 billion, while the total amount spent on government salaries and pension payments stood at Rs 1,052 billion.

After paying the salaries and pensions of public sector workers, the remainder of the total tax revenue was only Rs 164 billion, he said. The official said the pandemic had badly hit the developed, middle income and poor countries across the world alike and over four million people had died. While hunger, malnutrition and poverty had increased, it was not an easy task to maintain public finance management for any government.

When Sri Lanka gained Independence from Britain in 1948, there was one public servant for 113 Sri Lankans. However, successive governments expanded the civil service. Now the ratio is one civil servant for 13 Sri Lankans,” he said. (SNG)