The government has decided to do away with a second Vote-on-Account and present only a mini-budget in July, a top Finance Ministry official said yesterday.
Instead, to cover three months of government expenditure from May to July, the President on Friday issued a decree under the Finance Act which empowers him as Finance Minister to authorise expenditure for the "maintenance of public services" for three months from the date on which Parliament is scheduled to meet again.
The budget has been in suspense since the government presented a Vote-on-Account at the end of last year because of the presidential and parliamentary elections. The budget was expected to be presented this month or next month. However, on April 23, the government announced that another Vote-on-Account would be presented followed by a mini-budget in July.
That time-table was once against changed on Friday, the Finance Ministry official said.
Parliament would meet again on Tuesday while the budget would be presented in late July, the official said. He said no new revenue proposals would be included in the budget and spending would come from old revenue measures (taxes) from the previous budget.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told the Sunday Times the presenting of a Vote-on Account, a mini budget or drawing money from the consolidated fund would not affect the financial stability of the country.
He said the country's foreign reserves were sufficient for six months of imports while the budget deficit would be reduced from around 9% of GDP to 7 or 8% this year. "The IMF will extend its third tranche of a $2.6 billion loan by June but even without this facility we can manage our economy," Mr. Cabraal said.
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