The government has spent only 53% of the welfare budget allocated for the year within the first eight months up to August, according to a report.
A latest report from the Finance Ministry indicates that the welfare budget has primarily been used to fund the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare programme.
Meanwhile, the report also states that Sri Lanka is expected to receive $ 1.69 billion in loans from multilateral agencies within the next three to five years.
In the pre-election budgetary report by the Finance Ministry, it is reported that, as of the end of August 2024, foreign development partners and lending agencies have entered into 10 agreements with the government for foreign financing totalling $ 398.7 million.
Of this amount, $ 350 million has been secured in the form of loans.
Another $ 48.7 million has been obtained through seven grant agreements with the governments of Japan and Australia under official development assistance.
Meanwhile, total foreign financing disbursements up to August 2024 amount to $ 1.01 billion, of which $ 994.4 million has been disbursed as loans while $ 11.3 million has been provided as grants.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has disbursed $ 358.3 million to Sri Lanka up to August 2024, slightly surpassing the International Monetary Fund, which has provided $ 334 million in budget support loans. The World Bank has contributed $ 239.8 million.
The ADB and World Bank have linked their budget support loans to Sri Lanka’s IMF programme from last year.
A significant portion of the disbursements has been utilised in the budget support sector, accounting for 33% of the total disbursements.
The power and energy sector has utilised 13%, while the SME development sector has received 10%, and the finance sector has utilised 7%.
Additionally, the report stated that there is another $ 1.69 billion in loans from multilateral agencies that has not yet been disbursed, and these funds are expected to be available in the next three to five years.
The report also showed that only 53% of Sri Lanka’s welfare budget has been utilised in the first eight months of 2024.
According to the report data Rs. 562.4 billion out of the welfare budgeted Rs. 1,055.7 billion has been spent during this period.
The previous government increased the welfare budget by 15.3% this year compared to the actual expenditure of Rs. 915.4 billion in 2023, as per the data, following the IMF recommendations.
Of the total Rs. 562.4 billion spent in the first eight months, Rs. 112.7 billion went to the “Aswesuma” poverty alleviation programme, Rs. 9.5 billion for school nutrition, Rs. 4.4 billion for school textbooks and uniforms, and Rs. 24.2 billion for fertiliser subsidies.