Sri Lanka's Finance Ministry says it's ready to fund increasing presidential candidates
candidates for the Sri Lankan presidential election would cause no expenditure issues, a minister said on Sunday. Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the expenditure estimate for the election has not yet exceeded the Rs 10 billion limit.
«If the number of candidates becomes too large for the ballot paper, an extension may be needed. This could lead to an increase in the number of ballot boxes and an additional cost of about Rs 100 million per candidate. However, preparations are being made to fund the submitted estimates,» he said.
«The Election Commission noted that Rs 10 billion has been allocated for the election. There is still money left after the allocations for the submitted estimates. They added that aside from expenses such as printing, security and transport, some costs like officials' allowances, do not need to be spent immediately,» the minister said.
He said that the Finance Ministry should not entertain any doubts about the election funds as the money would be provided after the expenditure reports are submitted.
Siyambalapitiya said the expenditures such as printing, security and transport bills needed to be met immediately, while payments for officers and similar expenses could be met later after the submission of expenditure reports by the elections commission.
This will be the first election after Sri Lanka witnessed its worst-ever economic crisis in 2022.
The local council election for 340 local government bodies fixed for March last year was put on hold as the
