Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2015-09-09

Increasing the Authorized Limit on the Issue of Treasury Bills

- The Parliament has approved that the maximum borrowing limit of the Government through various debt instruments should be Rs.1,780 billion. Based on that approved borrowing limit, the government makes use of various debt instruments such as issuance of Bonds, Treasury Bills and Administrative Borrowings, to meet the funding requirements of the government. Within the overall borrowing limit said above, the approved limit for the issuance of Treasury Bills exists in the limit of Rs.850 billion up to date since the year 2012, in terms of the Local Treasury Bills Ordinance. Due to striving to meet the borrowing requirements through the Treasury Bills instead of using other debt instruments, the proposal made by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, the Minister of Finance, to increase the said limit by a further Rs.400 billion up to Rs.1,250 billion and to present the related resolution in Parliament, was approved by the Cabinet.