News
Presidential directive pushes ministries to plan 5 percent expenditure cuts
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
With President Ranil Wickremesinghe directing ministries to slash 5 percent of their budgetary allocations for 2023 to manage the severe strain on the Treasury, top officials are studying the how and where of expenditure cuts.
Ministry secretaries the Sunday Times spoke to said they were studying how best to cut down on their expenses in line with the presidential directive.
Department heads of the Urban Development and Housing Ministry would meet on Tuesday to discuss revising their estimates, Ministry Secretary W.S. Sathyananda said.
The Urban Development and Housing Ministry is a vast entity and also has four State Ministries coming under its purview. They are the State Ministry of Urban Development, Waste Disposal, and Community Cleanliness, the State Ministry of Rural Housing, Construction and Building Materials Industries Promotions, the State Ministry of Estate Housing and Community Housing and Estate Infrastructure, and the State Ministry of Coast Conservation and Low-lying Lands Development.
Mr Sathyananda said they would be able to work out a plan before the end of this month. In the 2023 Budget, the ministry has been allocated Rs. 48 billion.
It is customary for the Treasury to issue a circular after the Budget each year instructing institutions to cut down on their expenses. This year, though, given the severity of the financial crisis, instructions have been issued to specifically slash allocations by 5 percent.
Officials need to analyse what sort of expenses are absolutely necessary, such as mandatory payments.
But measures can be taken in other areas such as reducing fuel costs, electricity and water consumption, expenses for meetings, over-time payments, and transport costs, Irrigation Ministry Secretary U.D.C. Jayalal explained.
The ministry was allocated Rs. 83 billion through the Budget.
The Transport and Highways Ministry has been allocated more than Rs. 374 billion in the Budget. Its Secretary M.M.P.K. Mayadunne said senior officials would be meeting soon to make a detailed study on where they can cut down expenses from. “What all ministries will do is to find ways to slash their allocations while ensuring that this does not affect the running of public services,” he noted.
Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena first announced the President’s directive during the weekly Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday (10). He claimed making essential expenses such as state worker salaries and pensions, as well as welfare such as the Samurdhi allowances had proved difficult for January, February, and March. The minister warned that payments of Samurdhi allowances for low-income families could be delayed by up to two weeks this month.
The minister’s statement set off alarm bells among many Samurdhi recipients. There were long queues outside some Samurdhi banks on Wednesday as panicked Samurdhi recipients started going to banks to obtain their allowances. In places such as Ella, bank staff had to give out tokens asking many of those who queued up to come back another day.
Monthly payments of Samurdhi allowances are usually made between the 9th and 15th of each month, said R.P. B. Thilakasiri, Director General of the Department of Samurdhi Development.
More than 1.6 million families currently receive Samurdhi benefits. Mr Thilakasiri said payments were continuing, but there would indeed be a delay of about two weeks for payments to reach all beneficiaries. He expressed confidence that the delay would only be limited to January and payments could be made on time as usual from next month.
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