Leader of the NPP Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday proposed (01) that 2024 be made the year to revive the country through a collective effort.
He was speaking at a seminar at Sri Lanka Foundation in Colombo.
Speaking further, he said two bank accounts of the government managed by the Treasury maintained at the Bank of Ceylon and the People’s Bank are making profits despite an overdraft of Rs. 7,000 billion.
Whereas, the total expenditure of the government for the year 2024 has been Rs. 11,514 billion.
The NPP Leader revealed that Annex II at the end of the 2024 budget speech confirms the total expenditure the government is prepared to incur for this year.
It states that the expected total receipts, excluding borrowings, is Rs 4,164 billion, and the borrowing requirement for this year is Rs 7,350 billion.
However, according to the official document called Budget Estimates 2024, the government’s total expenditure this year is Rs. 7,826 billion.
Giving further details, he said that if it were not for the two state banks, the government would not be able to get bank overdraft facilities of Rs. 7,000 billion from private sector banks.
Dissanayake also revealed the non-performing loans at Rs. 325 billion for the Bank of Ceylon and Rs. 300 billion for the People’s Bank.
A considerable part of these non-performing loans has been raised by non-recovery given to people in the political underworld.
Despite this, Dissanayake pointed out, the Bank of Ceylon has earned a profit of Rs. 32,000 million after paying taxes of Rs. 13,000 million to the government for the year 2022.
The People’s Bank had paid a tax of Rs. 8,000 million to the government to earn a profit of Rs. 14,000 million.
