4.13 p.m. – Tax on casinos will be increased from Rs 200 million to Rs 400 million. Entrance fee for casinos in Sri Lanka to be increased to 50$.
4.12 p.m. – Excise duty on locally manufacture alcohol will be revised form midnight today.
4.09 p.m. – The tax on cigarettes will be revised from midnight today. All 60mm cigarettes will be subject to a 12% Nation Building Tax (NBT) from June 01. Accordingly the price of a cigarette will increase by Rs 5.
4.04 p.m. – Finance Minister invites diaspora and others to donate t the “Palmyra Fund” to develop the war torn areas in the country.
4.00 p.m – Rs 1.5 billion to be allocated to purchase 250 new buses for the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB)
4.00 p.m. – Royalty payments for artists to be implemented enabling artist to receive royalties for their creations which are aired on television and radio.
3.56 p.m. – Rs 50 million to be allocated for the growing of mangroves in an attempt to mitigate climate change effects.
3.54 p.m. – Rs 1,000 million for the beautification of the city of Colombo which is being carried out by the Colombo Municipal Council.
3.48 p.m. – Housing rent allowance for security forces personnel to be increased by 100%.
3.46 p.m. – Commandos Allowance to be increased to Rs 5,000 from the current Rs 1,000 per month. This will include members of the Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force.
3.42 p.m. – Another Rs 2,500 allowance to given to state sector employees from July 01 this year.
3.38 p.m. – Rs 5,000 million allocated for the Light Rail Project from Colombo Fort to Malabe which will commence work in 2019.
3.34 p.m. – Rs 32 billion to be allocated for development of school infrastructure and Rs 25 billion for development of university infrastructure.
3.32 p.m. – From January 01, 2020 approval will be granted for buildings only if they have been made accessible for disabled persons. All government buildings must be able to accommodate disabled persons by 2020.
3.23 p.m. – Rs 100 million to be allocated for the sterilization of stray dogs in the country.
3.22 p.m. – Rs 600 million to uplift Suva Seriya free ambulance service in the country.
3.14 p.m. – Revenue Intelligence Unit to be set up under the Ministry of Finance.
3.13 p.m. – Finance Ministry to introduce a Scholarship for Educational Excellence (C Fund) in order to provide the students with the best G.C.E. Advanced Level examination results in the country an opportunity to study at a top foreign university. Discussions already ongoing with universities such as Harvard, Oxford and MIT.
One condition is that after completing studies they have to work in Sri Lanka for at least 10 years after which they can work in any country.
3.06 p.m. – No foreign construction company will be allowed to tender for government tenders unless there are fully funded by foreign countries.
3.02 p.m. – Customs import duty and on imported go-karts and go-kart tires to be removed.
2.29 p.m. – A housing loan scheme named “Home Sweet Home” will be introduced for newly-wedded couples with 6% interest rate and a 25-year repayment period with a 2-year grace period.
2.51 p.m. – Rs 50 million allocated for a pilot project to build a arts and crafts village for female convicts.
2.51 p.m. – Rs 50 million allocated for a pilot project to provide skills to imprisoned women in the country.
2.50 p.m. – The Minister said that drug addicts who go into jail come out as drug peddlers. Therefore we propose a pilot project together with Prisons Department to specially employ imprisoned drug addicts while it will be launched in Ambepussa and Weerawila.
2.45 p.m. – Monthly allowance for differently abled persons to be increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. Rs 4,320 million allocated for this purpose.
2.43 p.m. – Minister announces a sequence of steps to be taken in order to increase the number of women in the country’s work force. He said labour laws will be amended to achieve this.
2.41 p.m. – Public toilets and sanitary facilities in the country will be developed to accommodate the differently abled and Rs 400 million allocated for this. The private sector will be invited to maintain and manage them.
2.34 p.m. – Rs 1.3 billion to be allocated for the construction of new fisheries harbours in Point Pedro and Pesalai.
2.29 p.m. – Rs 800 million allocated for growing new rubber trees increasing rubber tapping due to the shortage of natural rubber.
2.25 p.m. – Allocation to develop religious places of worship increased from Rs 500,000 to Rs 1 million.
2.23 p.m. – A new toll free hotline (1925) will be introduced to obtain information regarding the “Enterprise Sri Lanka” interest loan scheme.
2.23 p.m. – Over 30,000 entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka have benefited from Enterprise Sri Lanka while funds amounting to around Rs 60 billion have already been released for this loan scheme.
2.22 p.m. – “Enterprise Sri Lanka” scheme will be broadened and spread further while programmes will be implemented across the island to educate the masses, he said.
2.21 p.m. – Rs 48,000 million to strengthen ‘Gam Peraliya’ programme.
2.20 p.m. – Mangala said that ‘Gam Peraliya’ development programme was the ‘first victim’ the temporary government during the political crisis and that the first Cabinet paper of the current government was to bring it back.
2.17 p.m. – The Budget this year is being introduced under the themed “Enterprise Sri Lanka – Empowering the People, Nurturing the Poor”.
2.16 p.m. – Minister says that anti-dumping regulations will be implemented.
2.10 p.m. – The government believes in growth led by private enterprise, the genuine entrepreneur who uses his ingenuity, the finance minister said.
2.09 p.m. – What we inherited 2015 from the previous government was like a “ticking time bomb,” Minister Mangala Samaraweera says referring to the economy.
2.07 p.m. – Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera begins delivering the budget speech.
The Minister of Finance Managala Samaraweera presented the Budget proposal for the Year 2019 to the Parliament today (5).
The proceedings are scheduled to commence at 2.00 p.m. when the ‘Budget Proposals’ are announced with the reading of the Budget Speech at the second reading of the Appropriation Bill.
The Finance Ministry says that the Budget 2019 will be themed “Enterprise Sri Lanka – Empowering the People, Nurturing the Poor”.
The ministry said it plans to increase public revenue to 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a deficit to 4.5 percent.
A Vote on Account was passed following the reinstatement of Wickremesinghe while the Budget 2019 is expected to cover the last eight months of this year.
UPDATE 02.07pm
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The 5th budget of the current government is to be presented in parliament later today
(UTV|COLOMBO) – The budget for the year 2019 is to be presented in parliament by the minister of finance, Mangala Samaraweera today at 1.30 pm .
This will be the 5th budget presented by the current government and the 73rd national budget of Sri Lanka.
The budget was initially scheduled to be presented on the 5th of October last year.
The third reading was to be held on the 5th of November with the intention of being passed on that day.
However, due to the government overturn, this did not take place.
The total state expenditure for this year’s budget stands at 4550 billion rupees, while state income is 2400 billion rupees.
Issuing a communique The ministry of finance noted that the budget deficit is approximately 4.5% of the gross domestic product.
The second debate is to be held from the 6th to the 12th of March.
Voting pertaining to the second reading is also to be held on the evening of the 12th.
The committee debate of the third reading is to commence on the 13th of March and will conclude on the 5th of April.
The final vote will be held on that day.
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