The Appropriation Bill for 2027 — the legal instrument that authorises the government’s spending for next year — is due to be presented to Parliament for its First Reading today, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday morning. It sets estimated government expenditure at Rs. 4,992.77 billion.
The figure is confirmed in the gazetted text of the Bill, published as a supplement to the Government Gazette of 18 September 2026 and issued on 21 September. The Bill puts the exact estimate at Rs. 4,992,773,388,000 for the year beginning 1 January 2027.
Two numbers, not one
The Bill carries a second and almost equally large figure that is easy to miss. Alongside the Rs. 4,992.77bn that Parliament will vote on, it states that expenditure already charged on the Consolidated Fund by other laws — debt servicing and similar standing commitments that do not require an annual vote — will be Rs. 4,927.23 billion.
Taken together, the two schedules put total government spending authority for 2027 at roughly Rs. 9,920 billion, or about Rs. 9.92 trillion. The distinction explains why figures of both “Rs. 5 trillion” and “Rs. 9.9 trillion” attach to the same Bill: the smaller number is what MPs actually debate and divide on.
The Bill also authorises borrowing in or outside Sri Lanka to meet the spending, but caps it: the balance outstanding at any point during 2027, or at the year’s end, must not exceed Rs. 3,800 billion. Details of those loans must be reported to Parliament in the Final Budget Position Report required under the Public Financial Management Act, No. 44 of 2024.
What happens next
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, will deliver the Budget Speech on Thursday, 12 November, which constitutes the Bill’s Second Reading.
According to the Committee on Parliamentary Business, which settled the timetable on 25 September under Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, the Second Reading debate runs for seven days from 13 to 20 November, with the vote at 6.00 p.m. on 20 November. The Committee Stage debate — which NewsFirst describes as the Third Reading debate — then runs for 19 days from 21 November to 14 December, with the final vote at 6.00 p.m. on 14 December.
Parliament will sit every day during the Budget period including Saturdays, but excluding Sundays and public holidays. Government and Opposition split debating time 60:40 at the Second Reading and 40:60 at the Committee Stage. Where a division is called on an individual ministry’s expenditure head, it is taken at 6.00 p.m. at the close of that day’s proceedings.
Today’s sitting opens at 9.30 a.m. The chamber’s main business for the day is an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition.
The Bill reaches Parliament after Cabinet cleared it for gazetting and tabling in September, and after party leaders fixed the 12 November Budget date.
Not reported: the ministry-by-ministry allocations in the Bill’s First Schedule were not detailed in Wednesday’s filing, and no revenue estimate accompanied the expenditure figure. No other verified newsroom had filed on the First Reading at the time of writing.
