Colombo, Oct 12: Sri Lanka is raising its defence budget by 3.37 percent to 554 million dollars next year despite a truce with Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said today. The total defence budget will be 52.08 billion rupees in the calendar year 2004, up from an estimated spending of 50.38 billion rupees this year, defence officials said.
They said government was seeking approval for the spending which is included in the appropriation bill that was presented in parliament last week and due to be voted on later next month.
A big increase is shown in capital expenditure, or purchase of equipment, which goes up from 8.47 billion rupees to 9.05 billion rupees while recurrent expenditure reflecting salaries moves more modestly from 41.91 billion rupees to 43.03 billion rupees. Government forces have been observing a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger guerrillas since February 23 last year amid internationally-backed moves to broker peace in a country where over 60,000 have been killed in fighting since 1972.
A defence official said that although a truce is in place and the military is not using ammunition they were still servicing loans taken in mid-2000 to buy heavy equipment to beat back a major rebel offensive at that time.
The government is also planning on spending more money on the police next year with the interior ministry budget raised from 17.00 billion rupees this year to 18.02 billion rupees next year. Police will get nearly a billion rupees in additional funding to buy new vehicles and equipment, officials said. Bureau Report