• Tax revenue at Rs. 3,650.9 b, surpassing 88.9% of the annual target
• Primary balance records a surplus of Rs. 927.8 b, up 180% y-o-y

Sri Lanka’s government revenue has increased by 32.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs. 3,650 billion in the first eleven months of 2024, while expenditure has increased by 1.9% to Rs. 4,881.9 billion, the Ministry of Finance said.

According to the Presentation made by the Department of Fiscal Policy (DFP) before the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on Monday (6), the government has collected Rs. 3,650.9 billion in revenue, which is a 32.2% y-o-y increase and 88.9% achievement of the annual target of Rs. 4,107 billion.

The presentations showed that taxes on goods and services have made the highest contribution to the revenue collection with Rs. 1,974.5 billion collected by the end of November 2024.

Moreover, it showed that the government’s total expenditure stood at Rs. 4,881.9 billion by the end of November 2024, a 1.9% y-o-y increase and 70.9% of the annual estimated expenditure.

DFP Director General Dr. Kapila Senanayake said that the reduction in expenditure is mainly due to the reduction of interest expenditure with the reduction of yield rates in government securities, with the three-month treasury bill rate reducing by 5.9% in 2024.

Furthermore, the data showed that the primary balance stood at Rs. 927.8 billion with a 180% y-o-y increase- this is against the annual estimate of a primary deficit of Rs. 199.8 billion, while the budget deficit stood at Rs. 1,217.3 billion.

Also, the presentation showed that the government’s net borrowing stood at Rs 1,713.4 billion at the end of November 2024 from the estimated borrowing of Rs. 2,333.4 billion and the total disbursement of loans stood at $ 1,524.4 million at the end of November 2024 with bilateral disbursement at $ 53.3 million.