Public Finance Committee informed by Treasury 74 percent of 2020 govt revenue already collected

by Saman Indrajith

It was revealed at the Committee on Public Finance that 74% of the 2020 fiscal revenue had been received so far and that amount was Rs 1,124 billion out of the expected total government revenue of Rs. 1,580 billion, according to a parliament statement.

The amount was revealed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury S. R. Attygalle in response to a question raised by the Chairman of this committee Parliamentarian Anura Priyadarshana Yapa regarding the government revenue for the year 2020.

The Committee on Public Finance met in Parliament on Thursday (26) under the chairmanship of the Parliamentarian Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Members of the Committee State Minister Susil Premajayantha and Members of Parliament M.A. Sumanthiran, Dr. Harsha de Silva, Dilan Perera, Anupa Pasqual and Sahan Pradeep were present at the meeting.

The Committee met to review the allocation of funds within six weeks of the presentation of the Budget in accordance with Standing Order 121 and to submit a report to Parliament on the estimation.

Dr. Harsha de Silva pointed out that it was very important that all data related to the budget should be extremely accurate as it would have a severe impact on the future economic situation of the country, both locally and internationally.

When Committee Chairman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury whether there could be any positive expectations regarding the revenue for the year 2020 and, the latter noted that while the economic downturn in the first quarter of the year was real, expectations for the second and third quarters were very positive.

Members of the Committee on Public Finance, State Minister Susil Premajayantha and MPs M.A. Sumanthiran, Dr. Harsha de Silva, Dilan Perera and Anupa Pasqual, said that if the data were correct, the country’s economy would be in a good shape. All the committee members attended also agreed to present the second report on the budget in the future.

Chairman Yapa informed the committee that Parliamentarians Hesha Withanage and Chaminda Wijesiri had resigned from it.