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Western Province Council presents 2003 budget

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Financial Statement prepared by the Western Provincial Council (WPC) for 2003 was presented to the Council by the Western Province Chief Minister Reginald Cooray when the Provincial Council met at Sausiripaya, Colombo on Tuesday. WPC Chairman Jagath Angage presided.

Delivering his budget speech the Chief Minister said that the revenue of the WPC for the year 2003 amounts to Rs. 10,176,521,500 while the expenditure is Rs. 10,826,047,000. There is a deficit of Rs. 649,525,500.

He said the recurrent expenditure submitted to the Finance Commission had been reduced by Rs. 1,434 million and the revenue target had been increased by Rs. 472 million. Therefore the deficit of Rs. 1,906 million has to be met by increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.

In view of the difficulty of reaching higher revenue targets, attention will have to be focused on the reduction of expenditure. Therefore, we have to make drastic reductions in expenditure, he said.

Although the population decreased in other parts of the country, the Western Province shows an increase of 36.8 per cent with a total population of 5,361,185. Resources required for the provision of services to the Western Province increases every year.

He said: "This budget is being presented at a time when the very creators of Provincial Councils (PCs) are discrediting the PC system. Apart from enforcing restrictions on resources the Central Government is interfering in the functions of PCs. This has had legal implications too and some matters have been held up until court determinations are received.

The Chief Minister said that while enforcing unjustifiable limitations on Provincial Council expenditures, it has been given revenue targets which cannot be reached.

Officials are facing a severe crisis in resource utilisation, with expenditure cuts in an environment where the needs of the public have increased two fold.

The debate on the financial statement for 2003 and the related Appropriation Statute will be conducted on October 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17 and 18.

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