Appropriation Bill presented to Parliament

Uditha KUMARASINGHE, Irangika RANGE and Sandasen MARASINGHE

KOTTE: The Appropriation Bill presented to Parliament yesterday mentioned the expenditure of the Government which is estimated be Rs. 980.6 billion for 2009.

The Government is due to obtain a sum of Rupees eight hundred and forty nine thousand nine hundred and fourteen million twenty eight thousand as local and foreign loans for the year 2009.

According to the Appropriation Bill, the highest allocation of Rs. 177,060,039,000 (Rs 177 billion) has been reserved to the Defence, Public Security, Law and Order Ministry.

The second highest allocation of Rs. 88,885,000,000 has been made to Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry.

The Appropriation Bill presented to Parliament by the Leader of the House Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has mentioned a sum of Rs. 5,573,263,800 has been made to Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development Ministry. The allocation made to Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry is Rs. 5,864,989,400.

Under the financial heads of the President, Rs. 6,487,958,000 has been reserved as the recurrent expenditure while Rs. 4,670,059,000 has been allocated as the capital expenditure.

A sum of Rs. 27,259,264,000 has been allocated to Education Ministry for the year 2009. The Finance and Planning Ministry has been reserved Rs. 68,372,350,000 while Tourism Ministry has been allocated Rs. 1,810,551,000 for the year 2009.

Meanwhile, the allocation made to the Transport Ministry is Rs. 19,062,202,000. In addition the Foreign Affairs Ministry has been reserved Rs. 5,622,118,000. A sum of Rs. 77,128,508,000 allocation has been made to the Highways and Road Development Ministry while Rs. 43,116,702,000 has been reserved to Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Ministry.

The Appropriation Bill has made Rs. 38,041,305,000 to Power and Energy Ministry. The Mass Media and Information Ministry has been allocated Rs. 18,93,155,000 while Environment and Natural Resources Ministry has been reserved Rs. 4,489,890,000. A sum of Rs. 928,706,000 has been allocated to Export Development and International Trade Ministry while Rs. 36,512,200,000 has been made to the Ports and Aviation Ministry.

The 2009 Budget is to be presented in Parliament on November 6.