Nov 13, Colombo: The Appropriation Bill or Budget Report for the year 2024 has been approved by the Cabinet.

President Ranil Wickramasinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance is scheduled to present the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill for the year 2024 or the ‘Budget Speech’ to the Parliament today (13) at around 12.00 pm.

Thereafter, from November 14th to the 21st, the Second Reading debate of the Appropriation Bill (Budget) will be held for 7 days excluding Sundays. Accordingly, the vote on the Second Reading of the budget for the financial year 2024 is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, November 21st at 6:00 p.m.

Furthermore, the Committee Stage debate will be held for 19 days from Wednesday, the 22nd of November to Wednesday, the 13th of December, excluding Sundays. Accordingly, the vote on the Third Reading of the budget for the financial year 2024 is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, December 13th at 6:00 p.m.

During the period of the budget debate, time is allotted for 5 Questions for Oral Answers from 9.30 am to 10.00 am every day. Then the debate is scheduled to be held from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm and the Motion at the Adjournment Time will be held from 6.00 pm to 6.30 pm every other day except for the days voting has been scheduled.

According to the Appropriation Act of 2024, the total government expenditure is approximately at Rs. 7,833 billion out of which Rs. 3,861 billion have been allocated for Government Service Expenditure.

Moreover, to authorize the receipt of funds from within or outside of Sri Lanka during the financial year 2024, the limit of the amount of loan taken should not exceed 3,900 billion rupees pertaining to the 2024 fiscal year.

Post submitting this Appropriation Bill to the Parliament (first reading), it was submitted to the Committee on Public Finance of Parliament for which the related approval was received on the 9th.