Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-04-04

The Expenditure incurred by the Government for the Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka

- The United Nations Development Programme has been working closely with the Government of Sri Lanka, since 1967. In this connection, the Government of Sri Lanka is paying a voluntary contribution of US$150,000 annually and approximately US$395,000 is provided for as the contribution of the Government of Sri Lanka to meet the expenditure of the Office of the United Nations Development Programme. Sri Lanka which existed as a lower middle income country, as a result of it being classified into a middle income status, an arrears amounting to US$1.182 is required to be settled by the Government of Sri Lanka. As such, the proposal made by Hon. Ranil Wickramasinghe, the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to implement the proposal made by the United Nations Development Fund to utilize the arrears of the fund available to implement the development projects identified on priority basis by the Government instead of settling the arrears, was approved by the Cabinet.