Parliament today (23) approved Supplementary Estimate No. 05 of 2026, providing Rs. 17.213 billion in financial assistance to offer relief to the public in relation to electricity bills.
According to a statement issued by Parliament, the Supplementary Estimate relating to the Ministry of Energy was approved following a debate in the House.
The Rs. 17,213 million required for the measure will be sourced from funds originally allocated to line ministries for 2026 that have subsequently been identified as unlikely to be utilised by the end of the year.
Parliament said the transfer of these funds would therefore be carried out without affecting the overall expenditure ceiling approved under the Appropriation Act, No. 23 of 2025.
The reallocation will also not affect the Government’s maximum borrowing limit, the statement said.
The Supplementary Estimate had been considered by the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) yesterday, where it received the Committee’s approval before being taken up in Parliament today.
Meanwhile, Parliament also passed the Promotion of Export Agriculture (Amendment) Bill without amendments following a debate today.
The Bill seeks to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, to reflect changes that have taken place within the institutional structure of the Department of Export Agriculture and to update provisions relating to export agricultural crops.
According to Parliament, the restructuring of the Department resulted in the creation of new positions and the upgrading of existing positions.
As part of these changes, the designation of “Director” was changed to “Director General.” However, the corresponding provisions in the Export Agriculture Promotion Act had not been amended to reflect the change.
Several other related designations requiring amendments had also remained unchanged, prompting the Government to introduce the necessary revisions through the new Bill.
The legislation also seeks to update the definition of export agricultural crops contained in the existing Act.
Parliament said the definitions of export agricultural crops referred to in the Act as “notified agricultural crops” had become practically incompatible with current production and market conditions. As a result, the definition needed to be revised to better reflect the requirements of Sri Lanka’s present and future export agriculture sector.
Under the amendment, the definition of an “Export Agricultural Crop” in Section 19 of the Act will cover crops identified as having export potential in addition to local consumption and declared by the Minister in charge as a “notified agricultural crop” under Section 2 of the Act.
However, paddy, vegetables, fruits, root crops and additional food crops falling within the category of food crops are excluded from the definition. Crops identified as plantation crops will also not fall within the revised definition, according to the provisions of the Bill. (Newswire)
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