Estimated Govt. expenditure to go up by a further 3 billion in 2026

• Capital expenditure for development activities of the President sees remarkable increase of Rs. 8.2 billion in 2026 from Rs. 100 million in 2025
• Recurrent expenditure of the President remains the same at Rs. 200 million in 2025 and 2026
• Capital expenditure for the Ministry of Defence remains the same at Rs. 60 billion in 2025 and 2026
• Borrowing limit of the government has reduced from Rs. 4,000 billion in 2025 to Rs. 3,800 billion in 2026
• Both Capital and recurrent expenditure of the Ministry of Health and Mass Media has gone up in 2026

Colombo, Sept. 19 (Daily Mirror) - The total estimated government expenditure for 2026 has shot up by a further Rs. 3 billion, compared with the current year, according to the Appropriation Bill for 2026.

The bill has now been gazetted ahead of the annual budget debate in Parliament while it is scheduled to be presented in Parliament on September 26 for the first reading.

According to the Appropriation Bill which outlines expenditure for each sector for 2026, the total estimated government expenditure is Rs. 4,545.64 billion whereas it was only Rs. 4,218.24 billion for 2025 originally.

However, the borrowing limit of the government has reduced from Rs. 4,000 billion in 2025 to Rs. 3,800 billion in 2026.

The Capital expenditure for development activities of the President sees remarkable increase of Rs. 8 billion in 2026 from Rs. 100 million in 2025 while the recurrent expenditure remains the same at Rs. 200 million for both the years.

The recurrent expenditure for President’s operational activities has reduced to Rs. 2.4 billion in 2026 from Rs. 2.5 billion in 2025.

Meanwhile, recurrent expenditure for operational activities of the Prime Minister’s Office (2026) has reduced remarkably from Rs. 1 billion in 2025 to Rs. 898 million in 2026.

Capital expenditure for the Ministry of Defence remains the same at Rs. 60 billion in 2025 and 2026 while recurrent expenditure has increased to Rs. 395 billion in 2026 from Rs. 382 billion in 2025.

Both Capital and recurrent expenditure of the Ministry of Health and Mass Media has gone up in 2026 where recurrent expenditure stands at Rs. 449 billion and Capital at Rs. 105 billion while in 2025, the recurrent expenditure was at Rs. 412 billion and Capital at Rs. 95 billion.

Recurrent expenditure of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education has increased to Rs. 231 billion in 2026 from Rs. 206 billion in 2025 while the capital expenditure has increased from Rs. 65 billion in 2025 to Rs. 70 billion in 2026.

Both capital and recurrent expenditure of the Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs has increased in 2026 where the recurrent has gone to Rs. 175 billion in 2026 from Rs. 159 billion in 2025 while the capital stands as Rs. 18 billion in 2026 and Rs. 16 billion in 2025.

Recurrent expenditure for the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation has increased to Rs. 56 billion in 2026 from Rs. 52 billion in 2025 while capital expenditure has decreased to Rs. 390 billion in 2026 from Rs. 421 billion in 2025.