• IRD, Customs, and Excise Dept. surpass individual targets, boosting total collection
• Govt. confident in meeting foreign exchange targets despite slow capital expenditure

Sri Lanka’s tax revenue collection has surpassed Rs 1.7 trillion by end of May as the revenue collection agencies have managed to over achieve their end of May target, Economic Development Deputy Minister Prof. Anil Jayantha Fernando said.

Speaking to TVDerana on Monday (2), he said that the three main tax collection agencies in Sri Lanka have managed to over-achieve their tax targets by the end of May, collecting a total tax of Rs 1,789 billion.

He said the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has collected Rs. 907 billion by end of May, when the target was Rs. 900 billion, Customs has collected Rs. 780 billion from the Rs. 730 billion target and Excise Department has collected Rs. 102 billion from the Rs 98 billion target.

Moreover, he said that the dollar outflows for vehicle imports has reached $ 400 million by the end of May and that the government is confident that it will reach the $ 1-1.2 billion foreign exchange target or even sometime surpass that by year end.

“If the outflows reach that level then our revenue targets would be completed,” he said.

Further, he said that the government has only managed to spend about 12% of the Rs. 1.4 trillion capital expenditure allocation by the end of May.

Fernando said that there is an inherent limitation within the government to spend capital expenditure allocation.

In 2024, Sri Lanka spent only 53% of capital expenditure allocation, while the figure stood at 62% in the year earlier.

Fernando said that since the budget was approved in March, the government spending actually started in April and therefore, the purchases and procurement process has been slow, limiting the capital expenses.

He added that out of the capital expense allocation, about Rs. 600 billion are allocated for continuation of projects which will not be an issue in spending.

“For new projects only 10-12% has been spent so far, which is a challenge,” he said.