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Recently, a heated debate erupted on social media platforms regarding the President’s budget for 2026. This was mainly, becuase a series of posts went viral, stating that the President’s budget had increased threefold compared to the 2025 budget. Let’s look at some of these claims first.
Social Media Posts:
A series of social media posts included a comparative demonstration of the expenditure heads of the President and the Prime Minister, which showed that the expenditure head of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for the year 2026 had experienced a rapid increase compared to the previous two years. Some had also questioned why such a large amount had been allocated for the President’s expenditure.
Explainer :
The President’s expenditure head
The primary purpose of the Presidential Expenditure in Sri Lanka is to make annual budget allocations for the Presidential Office, which are approved by Parliament through the Appropriation Bill process.
The President’s expenditure covers two main areas: Operational Activities (day-to-day administration) and Development Activities (Policy Implementations, projects).
Constitutional Basis: Article 36 of the Constitution guarantees the basic presidential salary and allowances, while Article 148 gives Parliament complete control over public finances. Accordingly, the President’s expenses are classified into recurrent expenses (salaries, operations) and capital expenses (infrastructure, projects).
Parliamentary Process: Each year, Parliament reviews and approves the president’s allocations through a formal budget process that includes three readings, a committee stage debate, and a final vote.
Appropriation Bill 2026 to Parliament
The Appropriation Bill, which includes government expenditure for the 2026 financial year, was presented to Parliament on September 26 by the Acting Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Dr Anil Jayantha, as the President was abroad at the time.
According to the Appropriation Bill to be presented to Parliament as the second budget of the National People’s Power Government, the total expenditure of the government in 2026 is Rs. 4434 billion. More details here.
However, among the key talking points presented in this appropriation bill, the one that received special attention and sparked considerable debate in the media was the proposed allocation for the President’s expenditure.
Media reports indicated that the President’s Expenditure had increased threefold.
The viral social media posts were based on a news article published by the BBC Sinhala News, which showed a nearly threefold increase in the proposed President’s Expenditure Head for 2026 compared to the 2025 Appropriation Bill.
The report also presented comparative data on the expenditure heads of the President’s and Prime Minister’s for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Accordingly, it states that, in the first Appropriation Bill presented by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in 2025, the President’s Expenditure head was reduced by almost half compared to 2024. However, in this year’s Appropriation Bill for 2026, the President’s Expenditure has increased by nearly three times.
Furthermore, it stated that since the 2026 Appropriation Bill has not yet been passed, only the expenditures presented in the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Bills have been used for this comparison, and the budgets passed in previous years were not included in this analysis.
However, many social media posts circulated, stating that the President’s expenditure has increased threefold compared to the budget approved in 2025.
The appropriation bill presented initially by the National People’s Power government, which was used to calculate the news report,
Below is the President’s expenditure heading in the Appropriation Bill presented for the 2025 financial year, the first budget presented under the National People’s Power Government that came to power in November 2024.
As indicated here, it is clear that the total amount proposed for the President’s expenditure for the year 2025, under the two programs of Operations and Development, as both recurrent and capital expenditure, is 2,993 million or 2.9 billion.
This Appropriation Bill was presented to Parliament in January 2025 (Parliament Website), showing an allocation of Rs 2.9 billion for the Presidential Expenditure Head.
Accordingly, this figure was used for BBC calculations. In the first budget presentation in February 2025, the BBC Sinhala News Service pointed out the decrease in the Presidential Expenditure Head for 2025 compared to 2024.
The figures in the bill passed by Parliament in March 2025 were not taken into account in the calculations in the BBC report.
We examined the appropriation bills for previous years published by the Ministry of Finance. We found that the one published for the year 2025 was an appropriation bill issued in March 2025, as follows.
Accordingly, as per the above Appropriation Act republished on 21st March 2025, as a supplement to Part II of the Gazette of Appropriation Act No. 3 of 2025, it is seen that the capital expenditure under the development programme has been increased by Rs. 6 billion in addition to the previous figures under the Presidential Expenditure Head of the December 2024 Appropriation Act.
Therefore, according to the Appropriation Act enacted for the year 2025, an additional Rs. 6 billion should be added to the President’s Expenditure Head. Accordingly, the President’s Expenditure Head for 2025 will be Rs. 2.99 billion + 6, which amounts to Rs. 8.99 billion (approximately Rs. 9 billion).
Proposed Appropriation Bill for the year 2026
The proposed President’s Expenditure Head for the year 2026, as presented in the Appropriation Bill for the year 2026, is as follows.
As shown here, the total value of recurrent and capital allocations for both operational and development programs is 11,377.98 million or 11.3 billion.
2025 Final and 2026 Proposed Increase (Rs.) and % Increase
Comparison of the values in the March 2025 (final) and 2026 proposed appropriation drafts of the President’s Expenditure Head.
| 2025 Revised | 2026 Proposed | Increase (Rs) | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program 01: Operations | ||||
| Recurring Expenses | Rs. 2,518,980,000 | Rs. 2,465,980,000 | -Rs. 53,000,000 | -2.1% |
| Captial Expemditure | Rs. 354,000,000 | Rs. 418,000,000 | +Rs. 64,000,000 | +18.1% |
| Total of Program 01 | Rs. 2,872,980,000 | Rs. 2,883,980,000 | +Rs. 11,000,000 | +0.4% |
| Program 02: Development | ||||
| Recurring Expenses | Rs. 20,000,000 | Rs. 200,000,000 | +Rs. 180,000,000 | +900% |
| Capital Expenditure | Rs. 6,100,000,000 | Rs. 8,294,000,000 | +Rs. 2,194,000,000 | +36.0% |
| Total of Program 02 | Rs. 6,120,000,000 | Rs. 8,494,000,000 | +Rs. 2,374,000,000 | +38.8% |
| Total Presidential Provisions | Rs. 8,992,980,000 | Rs. 11,377,980,000 | +Rs. 2,385,000,000 | +26.5% |
Accordingly, the difference between the President’s Expenditure in the 2025 Appropriation Act and the President’s Expenditure in 2026 is approximately 2.38 billion, which represents an apparent increase of about 26.5%, or 1.26 times, rather than a threefold increase, as some social media posts have incorrectly stated.
Based on the above data, according to the proposed Presidential Expenditure Head in the 2026 Appropriation Act, a slight increase is observed in the expenditure allocated for operational processes, that is, day-to-day administrative activities, while the allocation for capital activities under development programs shows an increase of more than 2 billion.
Since former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s 2024 budget was 6.6 billion and was passed without any amendments during the budget debate, we can consider the budget expenditure for 2024 as 6.6 billion. However, as President Anura’s 2025 Appropriation Bill was amended with a significant change (an increase to 9 billion) during the budget debate, it is misleading to state that the 2025 Presidential Budget was halved compared to the 2024 Presidential Budget. In fact, the 2025 Presidential Budget is also Rs 2.4 billion higher than the 2024 Presidential Budget.
The claim that the 2026 Presidential Expenditure Head increased three times compared to 2025 is false, according to Deputy Minister Dr Anil Jayantha.
Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr Anil Jayantha Fernando stated that claims being circulated that the amount allocated for the Presidential Expenditure Head, as per the 2026 Appropriation Bill, is a three-fold increase compared to 2025 are false. The Minister states that the basis of calculation used for the relevant comparison is not correct.
“When presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill, 2.9 billion, that is, 2900 million, will become the 2025 expenditure head without the figures that should be included in the budget proposals in the year 2025. After that, we will specifically include two items: Rs. 5,050 million allocated for the Clean Sri Lanka project, implemented through the Presidential Secretariat, and Rs. 1,000 million allocated for research and innovation. Accordingly, the correct allocation for the year 2025 will become Rs. 9000 million. That is, Rs. 9 billion”.
“Then they present it for comparison. It mentions Rs. 11.37 billion, which includes the funds allocated to the Clean Sri Lanka Project and research expenses. Accordingly, it is technically incorrect to use it for comparison.
This mistake is the reason for the misleading news; there is no increase, there is a specific decrease. ”
You can refer to the complete statement made by the Minister below.
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Title:Is the Proposed Budget for Presidential Expenditure for 2026 a threefold increase compared to 2025?
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Insight
