• Special audit reveals Rs. 9.8 b expenditure on MPs
• Recurrent costs more than double from 2015 to 2024
• Nearly Rs. 900 m spent on food, uniforms in 5 years
• 1,800 lunches prepared on Parliament sitting days 

Nearly Rs. 28 billion was spent on recurrent and capital expenditure for the operations of Sri Lanka’s Eighth and Ninth Parliaments between 2015 and 2024, with expenditure attributed to Members of Parliament (MPs) alone amounting to nearly Rs. 9.8 billion, a special audit has revealed. 

According to the special audit report, seen by The Sunday Morning, recurrent expenditure under the expenditure head of Parliament during the 10-year period amounted to approximately Rs. 26.19 billion, while another Rs. 1.80 billion was incurred as capital expenditure. 

The audit has placed particular focus on expenditure incurred under Parliament’s three main projects – the Office of the Speaker, parliamentary staff, and MPs. 

Of the approximately Rs. 28 billion spent under these projects between 2015 and 2024, the largest share – Rs. 16.52 billion – was attributed to parliamentary staff, while Rs. 9.77 billion was spent under the project covering MPs. Another Rs. 1.69 billion was spent under the Office of the Speaker. 

The figures also show a sharp escalation in the annual cost of running Parliament, with recurrent expenditure more than doubling over the decade. Annual recurrent expenditure increased from Rs. 1.67 billion in 2015 to Rs. 3.46 billion in 2024, representing an increase of approximately 107%. 

The highest recurrent expenditure was recorded in 2023, when it reached Rs. 3.57 billion, compared with Rs. 3.20 billion in 2022 and Rs. 2.71 billion in 2021. 

Expenditure attributed specifically to MPs also increased considerably during the period. The MPs’ project cost approximately Rs. 460.48 million in 2015, before increasing to Rs. 545.04 million in 2016 and Rs. 926.70 million in 2017. 

It subsequently stood at Rs. 960.4 million in 2018 and crossed the Rs. 1 billion mark in 2019, reaching Rs. 1.02 billion. After declining to Rs. 769.30 million in 2020, expenditure rose again to Rs. 1.05 billion in 2021, Rs. 1.29 billion in 2022, and a decade-high Rs. 1.46 billion in 2023. In 2024, expenditure under the MPs’ project stood at approximately Rs. 1.29 billion. 

Meanwhile, the special audit has revealed that Rs. 894 million was spent on food and uniforms between 2020 and 2024 under the three parliamentary projects. Such expenditure increased from Rs. 95.74 million in 2020 to Rs. 111.86 million in 2021 and nearly doubled to Rs. 193.71 million in 2022. It climbed further to Rs. 254.61 million in 2023, before declining slightly to Rs. 238.09 million in 2024. 

Of the five-year total, approximately Rs. 873.70 million was recorded under the parliamentary staff project, Rs. 10.72 million under the Office of the Speaker, and Rs. 9.59 million under the MPs’ project.

The audit has also highlighted the scale of Parliament’s catering operation, noting that lunch is generally prepared for around 1,200 people on non-sitting days and 1,800 people on days when Parliament is in session. Four cafeterias operate within the parliamentary complex – separately catering to general staff, executive staff, MPs, and guests of MPs. 

The report further states that 234 staff members were deployed for catering and housekeeping work as of 31 December 2025.

It has also raised an accounting issue concerning expenditure on food, beverages, and uniforms, noting that no separate allocations had been made for these categories under the three projects in 2020, 2021, and 2022. 

According to the audit, allocations specifically for food and beverages could be identified only from 2024 onwards. Capital expenditure during the decade amounted to approximately Rs. 1.80 billion, fluctuating from Rs. 58.79 million in 2015 to a high of Rs. 397.74 million in 2017. It subsequently declined significantly, falling to Rs. 48.57 million in 2022 and Rs. 42.10 million in 2023, before increasing to Rs. 117.85 million in 2024.

The audit findings offer a consolidated account of the public funds spent on operating the Eighth and Ninth Parliaments over the decade, including a period in which Sri Lanka underwent its worst economic crisis since independence and subsequently embarked on a stringent fiscal consolidation programme.