Sri Lanka’s 2026 Budget contains 29 proposals with no stated financial impact, the highest number of such omissions recorded since 2021, according to a new analysis by the think tank Verite Research.
The findings appear in the organisation’s “State of the Budget 2026” report, which found that the unestimated measures make up 16% of all proposals tabled in the Budget.
The raw figure is far above the 14 such proposals recorded in 2024, although the share has fallen from the 23% logged that year and the 49% recorded in 2023.
Verite Research said the gaps leave Parliament and the public unable to judge what the policies would cost, how they would affect government revenue and spending, and what assumptions lay behind them. It pointed out that Section 49(2) of the Public Financial Management Act obliges the Government to publish revenue and expenditure estimates, along with the economic or other assumptions used to prepare them.
The report identified 18 new expenditure initiatives that carry no disclosed cost. These include technology parks in Digana and Nuwara Eliya, better tourism infrastructure around Haputale, the resumption of work to expand Bandaranaike International Airport, the issuing of digital identity cards, and broadband vouchers for children from low-income families. Others cover 10 voluntary rehabilitation centres for people affected by drug addiction, stronger “Triposha” and nutrition support for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and road and port development.
Five revenue-raising proposals also lack projections of their expected yield. Among them are lowering the annual turnover threshold for VAT and Social Security Contribution Levy registration from Rs. 60 million to Rs. 36 million, altering how the levy is collected on vehicle sales, and introducing a national electronic invoicing system.
The think tank added that four revenue-reducing measures were left without estimates, against one in 2024. These include cutting the investment threshold for enhanced capital allowances from US$3 million to US$250,000, waiving service fees on electronic payments to government bodies, and suspending taxes on newly built communication towers for five years.
Verite Research concluded that without such figures Parliament cannot properly scrutinise the Budget or weigh the fiscal consequences of the Government’s commitments, leaving lawmakers to vote on policies whose price tag remains unknown.
