DailyMirror:
The government yesterday presented the Appropriation Bill in Parliament yesterday seeking its approval to dispense money to cover state expenditure for the next year amounting to Rs. 1080 billion.
According to the Bill, the government makes the highest allocation of Rs. 214 billion to the Defence Ministry as usual, and the second highest allocation of Rs. 75 billion to the Economic Development Ministry.
Out of the total allocation to the Defence Ministry, Rs. 202 billion is for the recurrent expenditure and the rest for the capital expenditure. The government has apportioned Rs. 108 billion of the defence budget for the Army, Rs. 30 billion for the Navy, Rs. 19 billion for the Air Force and Rs.34 billion for the Police Department.
The government has sought parliamentary approval for the allocation of Rs.10 billion for the Department of the Commissioner General of Samurdhi, which comes under the Economic Development Ministry.
An allocation of Rs. 62 million has been made to the Health Ministry. Besides these, the government has allocated Rs. 33 billion to the Power and Energy Ministry, Rs. 28 billion to the Agriculture Ministry, Rs.29 billion to the Education Ministry and Rs. 4 billion to the Fisheries Ministry.
Meanwhile, over Rs. 4 billion has been sought for the President’s Office through the Bill this time. Of this amount, Rs.2.2 billion is expected to be used the recurrent expenditure and another Rs. 2 billion for the capital expenditure.