The Vote on Account for the first four months of 2020 was presented to the Parliament yesterday (23) by Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera and passed with amendments.
It has proposed more benefits for public servants including tax reductions and increments.
Accordingly, the Vote of Account proposes that the distress loans to be increased to Rs. 350,000 from Rs. 250,000 and the interest to be reduced to 3% from 4.5%.
The Rs. 6,000 given to public servants to purchase bicycles will be increased to Rs.10,000 while its interest rate is to be reduced from 4.2% to 3%.
Further, the allowance given to state employees for uniforms will be increased to Rs. 5,000 from Rs. 4,000.
The allowance granted for state employees for spectacles is to be increased from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 8,000.
Meanwhile, the 14-day combined allowance for the police officers will be replaced by a 20 day combined allowance with effect December 14th.
The Vote on Account for the period between 01 January 2020 and 30 April 2020, was passed at the parliament with the approval for a Rs 1474 billion to be utilized as state expenditure.
