DailyMirror
The government’s total debt service payment had increased to Rs.825 billion last year while the total revenue for the year stood at only Rs.702 billion, the Central Bank said – prompting an opposition party to say Sri Lanka’s economy was in tatters.
In a report the bank said this was an increase of 37 per cent as against the total debt service payment reported in 2008. Of this amount Rs.675 billion was from domestic borrowings and Rs.150 billion from external borrowings.
The total revenue for the year showed an increase of seven per cent against that of the previous year. However, Rs.618 billion of this amount has been accumulated by way of tax revenue. The government has earned Rs.139 from income tax, Rs.171 from VAT and Rs.97 from Excise Tax while the non-tax revenue for the year was only Rs.83 billion.
Democratic National Alliance (DNA) parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti who commented on these figures said this clearly proved that Sri Lanka’s economy was facing a severe crisis.
“Today, the government’s revenue is hardly sufficient to pay back loans and the accrued interest,” he said.
Mr. Handunnetti said he was concerned over the government not tabling this report in parliament which was the supreme authority dealing with public finances.