Sri Lanka treasury is now compelled to mange daily cash flow in a prudent manner as the country is heading for Provincial Council or Presidential elections in the coming months.
Cash inflows to the General Treasury by way of revenue and other receipts amounted to Rs. 696.8 billion, as against the estimation of Rs. 671.8 billion, which was an increase of 15 per cent, compared to Rs. 607.5 billion in the same period of 2018, Finance Ministry report revealed.
Total cash outflow for both recurrent and public investments has increased by 13 per cent to Rs. 963.4 billion in the first four months of 2019 from Rs. 854.3 billion over the same period of 2018.
Total cash deficit as at 30th April 2019 was Rs. 266.7 billion, an increase of 8.0 per cent, compared to Rs. 246.8 billion as at end April 2018 mainly due to the increase in cash inflows to the General Treasury by 15 per cent against the increase in cash outflows for the public investment by 20 per cent.
Even though operational expenditure has increased by Rs. 68.6 billion from Rs. 655.1 billion to Rs. 723.7 billion in the first four months of 2019, the overall closing cash and bank balance as at 30th April 2019 has increased slightly to Rs. 130.2 billion as against Rs. 125.3 billion as at 30th April 2018.
(LI)