Budget as scheduled

Lakshmi de Silva

The Budget 2010 will be presented in Parliament as scheduled on November 5. The Appropriation Bill would be presented in Parliament on October 8 and the vote on the budget will be taken on December 4, State Revenue Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said at a press conference at his Ministry yesterday.

He said Parliamentary elections would be held early next year but the Budget would be presented as planned earlier.

Though the Opposition had queried whether the Budget was being presented at the instance of the International Monetary Fund it had to be emphasized that the Budget was an internal exercise of the Government held annually and the IMF had nothing to do with it, the Minister said.