The government expenditure surpassed Government revenue by 83.0 percent resulting in a budget deficit of Rs. 524.1 billion which is 0.7 percent higher than the Rs.520.5 billion budget deficit in the same period of 2021
Considering the widening fiscal deficit, the Government has embarked on corrective measures to improve revenue from both direct and indirect taxes to contain further expansion of the budget deficit.
It has also taken measures to prune public spending by cutting down allocations to ministries, departments , state institutions and statutory bodies whie suspending ongoing unessential development projects, a senior Finance Ministry official said.
Total Government expenditure amounted to Rs. 1,155.2 billion reflecting a 15.2 percent increase in the first four months of 2022 compared to Rs. 1,002.8 billion in the same period of 2021.
This consisted of Rs.1,016.8 billion of recurrent expenditure and Rs. 138.4 billion of capital expenditure and net lending. Recurrent expenditure increased by 14.2 percent to Rs. 1,016.8 billion in the first four months of 2022, compared to Rs. 890.1 billion in the same period of 2021.
This was due to the continuation of additional livelihood support for “Samurdhi” and other welfare recipients and payment of an additional Rs. 5,000 for public servants and pensioners together with the increase in expenditure on interest payments, subsidies and transfers, salaries, and pensions
The overall revenue performance of the Government improved during the first four months of 2022 benefiting from the mobilization of both tax and non-tax revenue, compared to the subdued revenue performance of the same period in 2021.
The total government revenue including grants increased by 30.9 percent to Rs. 631.1 billion in the first four months of 2022 from Rs. 482.3 billion in the same period of 2021, which was a realization of 28.4 percent of the annual estimate of Rs. 2,223.0 billion.
Tax revenue significantly increased by 27.2 percent to Rs. 543.6 billion in the first four months of 2022 from Rs. 427.3 billion in the same period of 2021 reflecting the receipts of the first installment of Rs. 59.6 billion from one-off Surcharge Tax in April 2022.
The realization of tax revenue as against the annual estimated revenue of Rs. 1,987.0 billion was 27.4 percent in the first four months of 2022.
