Transport, Highways, and Media Minister Bandula Gunawardena yesterday (21) said that there is one public servant for every 13 citizens in the country.Speaking at a ceremony in Homagama to inaugurate a new four-storeyed building for the Divisional Secretariat, the Minister mentioned that there are 1.6 million public servants in the country.

Gunawardena said that one of the primary responsibilities of any government was to ensure the timely payment of salaries to these public servants, along with pensions. “These payments constitute a significant portion of the government’s recurring expenditure. Successive governments have resorted to borrowing to meet these financial obligations. Ultimately, all state expenditure is funded through taxation. None of the previous governments was able to find a sustainable solution to this issue,” he said.