Govt. pledges to present welfare-oriented budget for next year despite economic difficulty

With 70 percent of the country’s households seeking financial assistance to meet their basic needs, the government yesterday pledged to present a welfare-oriented budget for the next year despite the ongoing economic turmoil.

State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya in a statement highlighted that the government has taken up the challenge to assist these families in the upcoming budget with cost of living per person estimated at Rs.13,000 per month.

The Budget 2023 is scheduled to be presented to parliament on November 14.

“There are two kinds of budgets. They are welfare-oriented budget and investment-oriented budget. We are presenting the 77th budget in the post-independence Sri Lanka in a background where 70 percent of the country’s households are seeking financial support to continue their livelihoods.

Therefore, our main focus is to present a welfare budget that enables the people to meet their basic needs,” he said.

Siyambalapitiya pointed out that Budget 2023 is being presented in an extremely challenging background where food inflation is running at 90 percent, headline inflation hovering around 70 percent and interest rates at 30 percent, while the country has declared a pre-emptive default on external debt. 

In addition, he noted that many analysts expect the country’s economy to contract by a further three percent in 2023.

Despite this extremely challenging environment, Siyambalapitiya stressed President Ranil Wickremesinghe as Finance Minister has accepted the challenge to bring the much-needed social and economic stability through Budget 2023.

The government is seeking financial support from multilateral donor agencies to fund welfare programmes. 

President Wickremesinghe recently informed parliament that Budget 2023 would be compiled within the framework of an economic programme recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).