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Treasury facing serious shortage of funds
10 Jan, 2023
The Treasury is facing a serious shortage of funds, the Government revealed today.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed the Cabinet that the Treasury is running short of funds owing to the 2022 economic crisis, Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said today.
“The President informed the Cabinet that the Treasury is facing a serious financial crisis in 2023 beyond what we expected,”? Gunawardena said.
He said that the expected income by way of taxes during the first 3 months of this year is low.
However, the Government will need to make payments to meet essential requirements, including public sector salaries.
As a result, all Ministries have been told to slash their budget allocations by at least 5 percent.
Gunawardena said that Samurdhi payments may also get delayed owing to the crisis in the month of January.
“No matter who is in power, the Treasury gets funds from public taxes. In the past we have printed money and obtained loans. But now we are unable to do that as no one is giving us loans and we cannot print money,” he said.
Gunawardena said the President had informed the Cabinet that the Government has no choice but to take drastic steps until the situation improves. (Colombo Gazette)
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