Revenue loss from Easter terror attack Rs. 50 billion

The Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report 2019 which was submitted to Parliament by the Ministry of Finance yesterday estimates that the Easter Sunday terror attack had caused the country a revenue loss of Rs 50 billion.

The report revealed that: “An initial estimate on the impact of the Easter Sunday attacks on the government revenue in the short term indicates that the direct contribution to the government revenue by affected sectors such as finance, tourism, trade and construction, will come down by Rs.50 billion approximately.”

The report also said that the estimated loss of revenue could further increase due to the slowdown of economic activities during the remaining months of 2019. “Economic slowdown had already hindered the collection of internal taxes, namely the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Nation Building Tax in addition to other taxes collected on importation of goods. The loss of government revenue has been observed from the collection of fees and charges as well. This tendency will affect the revenue targets in 2019 including primary balance, budget and debt financing,” the report added.

The report said that the total government expenditure during the first four months of 2019 was Rs.962 billion. The recurrent expenditure during the period was Rs.756 billion while capital expenditure amounted to Rs.211 billion.

The total government revenue during the first four months this year came to Rs.598 billion.

(Source: Daily News – By Camelia Nathaniel and Amali Mallawarachchi)