Sri Lanka has to borrow 400 million rupees on a daily basis to maintain social welfare expenditures including monthly salaries of public servants and pensioners Finance Ministry Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena revealed today.
The Secretary also pointed out that this does not include loan interest payments, loan repayments, and other government expenses.
The secretary Mr. Gunawardena further elaborated that how the state’s financial sector has fallen into such a terrible abyss in a discussion held about the new tax policies that will be implemented from the first of January to increase state revenues at the Ministry of Finance today (23)
” Sri Lanka receives Rs. 145 billion income monthly. But look at the expenditures. 93 billion rupees are going to pay salaries. 27 billion rupees need to pay pensions. 6 billion for Samurdhi allowances. A large amount is going to social welfare etc. 157.
It is on this background that we have introduced reforms in the public finance sector to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
What I want to show here is that the income has increased at the same time and the expenses cannot be reduced at the same time. We have to pay salaries. And pensions have to be paid. At the same time, the government had to spend a considerable amount of money to take care of the poor and vulnerable during this crisis.”
