Government withdraws proposal to increase borrowing limit

Colombo (News 1st) - The Vote on Account is the special provision given to the government to obtain the vote of Parliament to withdraw money when the budget for the new financial year is not released or the elections are underway. The amendment to the vote on account, that was presented in parliament recently to increase the borrowing limit of the vote on account that was presented by the former government last year for the first four months of 2020, was withdrawn in parliament today. The decision was announced after an unannounced party leader's meeting convened this morning. On the 23rd of October 2019, a vote on account valued at Rs.757.6 billion rupees was presented in parliament by the previous government for the first 4 months of 2020. Thereafter, Approval was granted to raise these funds. The present government planned to raise this borrowing limit by a further Rs.757.6 Billion rupees. The government proposed to increase the borrowing limit of Rs.721 Bn to Rs.1088 Bn. Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena requested party leaders to convene a meeting this morning with the intention of taking a decision in this regard. Accordingly, the party leaders' meeting was convened after adjourning parliament.