Government refutes claims on fresh borrowings

• Says borrowings so far during year have been limited to roll-over of maturing Treasury bills 

While refuting the claims on fresh borrowings during this year, the government yesterday stressed that the borrowings so far during the year have been limited to the roll-over of maturing Treasury bills.  

Issuing a media statement, Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya clarified that the government has only rolled over the maturing Treasury bills so far during this year, in order to manage the outstanding Treasury bill stock.

Apart from the Treasury bill roll-overs, he affirmed that the government has not taken any other forms of credits during the past one-half months as alleged by certain reports. 

Although the revenue from new taxes started coming into the Treasury this month, Siyambalapitiya noted that there’s a still significant deficit between the revenue and expenditure. 

In January, the gap between the revenue and expenditure stood at 350 percent, despite a 51 percent year-on-year increase in state revenue. The debt servicing alone stood at Rs.377.6 billion for the month, which was financed through issuing government securities and a Central Bank provisional advance of Rs.100 billion, according to Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Bandula Gunawardana.