Government refutes increase in President’s expenses for 2026

Colombo, October 4 (Daily Mirror) - The Finance Ministry refuted certain media reports on the President's expenditure head in the Appropriation Bill for 2026 which claimed that the President's expenditures had gone up by three times.

Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr. Anil Jayantha said the figures used for comparisons by certain media was wrong as the actual expenditure head of the President for 2025 was not Rs. 2.9  billion as reported but Rs. 9 billion.

He clarified that Rs. 2.9  billion was in the draft but the actual allocation with budget proposals for the Clean Sri Lanka project and Research and Development was Rs. 9 billion.

The Minister said Rs. 11.37 billion was allocated for the President as recurrent and capital expenditure which includes salaries of the Presidential Secretariat staff and the Clean Sri Lanka project and research and development for 2026.

He said Rs. 2,546 million was allocated as recurrent expenditure in 2025 and it was increased to Rs. 2,673 million due to the salary increment for the staff.

The Minister said the capital expenditure for 2025 was Rs. 6,454 million and it was increased to Rs. 8,712 million with expenditure for the Clean Sri Lanka project and Research and Development.