However, as there was a discrepancy between the figures presented by the President in the government’s budget speech today (17) and the figures reported in Hiru TV’s Noon news, FactSeeker decided to fact-check those figures. Accordingly, FactSeeker examined the news report.

At that time, Pubudu Jayagoda stated that while the current government allocated Rs. 389 billion for the capital expenditure of the Ministry of Highways in the 2025 Appropriation Bill, only Rs. 65 billion was allocated for the capital expenditure of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Training, which oversees 10,000 schools, 18 universities, and hundreds of technical and agricultural colleges.

Therefore, it was observed that Pubudu Jayagoda’s statement was inaccurately presented in the introduction and title of the Hiru TV news report.

However, upon carefully reviewing Pubudu Jayagoda’s speech, it was observed that, according to the 2025 Appropriation Bill, Rs. 2.1 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Rs. 0.3 billion to the food sector, Rs. 5 billion for paddy procurement, Rs. 8 billion to the Ministry of Industry, Rs. 5 billion to the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Rs. 13 billion to the Ministry of Buddhasasana.

“Rs. 95 billion has been allocated for the healthcare of 2.2 million people in Sri Lanka. Like the Rajapaksa family, this government has also prioritized road construction in the country. However, they have allocated the maximum resources for repression, with Rs. 423 billion allocated for security expenditure in 2024, which has now increased to Rs. 442 billion this time,” he said.

When examining the Appropriation Bill in relation to the data presented by Pubudu Jayagoda, it was observed that while presenting certain statistics, he combined both capital and recurrent expenditures, whereas, in other instances, he presented them separately.

Accordingly, Pubudu Jayagoda mentioned only the recurrent expenditure allocated to the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, which is Rs. 2.1 billion. However, the capital expenditure for the ministry is Rs. 0.4 billion, bringing the total allocation to Rs. 2.5 billion.

The Appropriation Bill allocates Rs. 8.6 billion for capital expenditure alone for the Ministry of Industries, while Rs. 4.8 billion is allocated for recurrent expenditure. However, he only mentioned capital expenditure.

The data cited by Pubudu Jayagoda—Rs. 13 billion for the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Rs. 5 billion for the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Rs. 442 billion for the Ministry of Defence—is correct, but it is a mix of both recurrent and capital expenditures under those expenditure headings.

The Appropriation Bill allocates Rs. 95.5 billion as capital expenditure and Rs. 413 billion as recurrent expenditure for the Ministry of Health and Media. However, Pubudu Jayagoda only referred to capital expenditure in his statement.

According to the Appropriation Bill, Rs. 65 billion has been allocated for the capital expenditure of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Training.

FactSeeker focused on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s budget speech, presented in Parliament on Monday (17), and the budget document presented in Parliament.

According to the Appropriation Bill, the amount allocated for the capital expenditure of the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation is Rs. 421 billion. Of this, Rs. 389 crore has been allocated for development activities under the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation.

Rs. 619 billion has been allocated for the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Training. Of this, Rs. 98.9 billion has been allocated for capital expenditure and Rs. 520.1 billion for recurrent expenditure.

Additionally, Rs. 483 billion has been allocated for the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation, with Rs. 433 billion allocated for its capital expenditure. A total of Rs. 355.74 billion has been allocated for highway development, including Rs. 347.20 billion for capital expenditure and Rs. 8.49 billion for recurrent expenditure.

Therefore, FactSeeker confirms that Pubudu Jayagoda’s explanation regarding the expenditure headings in the Appropriation Bill is not entirely accurate.