2024 Appropriation Bill to Parliament in October:
Second Reading from November 14 to 21:
Finance State Minister Dr.Ranjith Siambalapitiya said that the Appropriation Bill for next year (2024) will be submitted to Parliament in the second week of October.
The Second Reading of the Budget will be presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on November 13.
The Cabinet approval for submitting the Appropriation Bill for next year (2024) to the Parliament has been given.
The approval was received at the Cabinet meeting held last July. Accordingly, Legal Draftsman has prepared the Appropriation Bill for the year 2024.
The Attorney General’s clearance has been received and once Bill is published in the Government Gazette then it will be submitted to Parliament for approval.
He said the debate on the Second Reading of the budget will be held from November 14 to 21 and the voting on the second reading is scheduled to be held in the afternoon of the 21.
The vote on the Third Reading is scheduled to be held on December 13.
After the adoption of the budget, it is to be passed into law by December 27 with the Speaker’s approval, and after December 31, the allocation of funds for Government expenses will be made through the new Budget, the State Minister said.
He said the Government has paid more attention to health, education and welfare expenditure in this year’s budget. The Minister also said that this year the welfare expenditure which was about Rs.65 billion has increased to about Rs.185 billion.
