No money printed to maintain Cabinet - State Revenue Minister

COLOMBO: The Government has not spent billions of rupees to maintain the Cabinet, State Revenue and Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said yesterday.

The Government is spending a maximum of Rs 20 million for one minister. This included fuel expenditure and maintaining their private staff, he said.

He denied the statement made by the UNP that the Government was printing Rs 38 billion worth notes to maintain the Cabinet.

“This statement has misled the public. The Government cannot print money as desired. The Central Bank is the authority to issue currency notes.”

Each year Central Bank estimates the amount of money needed to be injected to the country’s economy to carry out economic activities.

This estimation is done using the expected GDP growth for the respective year and the expected deflation rate of that year. Last year, the Central Bank injected Rs 42 billion to the economy due to the 7.4% GDP growth and 10.2% deflation last year, he added.