By Gihan de Chickera & Kelum Bandara

The Government has gone above the projected state expenditure in the 2009 budget by more than Rs.77 billion by way of 23 supplementary estimates presented to the House in the first ten months of 2009.

A document tabled in Parliament by Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardena revealed that 23 supplementary estimates to the value of Rs. 77,006,003,938/= had been presented to the House as at 9th October this year.

The increase in state expenditure, when compared to projected expenditure in the 2009 Budget, is Rs. 77,006,003,938/= (of which Rs. 15,759,500,000/= has been allocated to account for foreign aid received for various development projects), the answer tabled by the Chief Whip stated.

These figures were presented in response to a question by JVP MP Premasiri Manage on the number of supplementary estimates presented to Parliament during 2009.

The highest supplementary estimate had been to strengthen the Army, amounting to Rs. 19.6 billion.

Supplementary estimates to strengthen the Navy and Air Force were Rs. 7.3 billion and Rs. 2.9 billion, respectively.

The Ministry of Highways and Road Development had sought a supplementary estimate of Rs. 10.6 billion to account for foreign aid to construct highways and expressways, and the “Uthuruwasanthaya” development programme.

The document added that Rs 8 billion had been approved for the Department of Commerce to provide incentives to exporters under the Export Development Reward Scheme.

The Ministry of Power and Energy was allocated Rs 2.4 billion for electrification of the Northern Region the document revealed.