By Ajith Siriwardana

The government is expecting to increase salaries of public servants, provide an additional allowance for schoolchildren and increase allowance for low-income families in the budget for 2025 which is to be presented before March next year, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday.

Speaking at an election rally in Homagama, he said the government will present a Vote on Account in December for the first three months of 2025 as there is no sufficient time to present a budget. The President said the government is reviewing all the projects that have commenced in the country, adding that some of them have been suspended while some other projects have not been directed in the expected direction.

“We instructed the relevant institutions to create a map of all the projects to identify the location of the project. That is the plan to rescue the rural people from poverty. We will increase the allowance paid for low-income families in the next budget,” he said.

The President also said the government will launch a special project “Clean Sri Lanka” aiming to make Sri Lanka the cleanest country in the Asian region after the general election. He said a special Presidential Task Force (PTF) will be set up for that purpose.