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Sri Lanka raises defense bill for 2001 from earlier estimate |
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March 10, 2001
COLOMBO, MAR 9 (AP) - The government has revised its defense spending estimate for 2001 from 63.4 billion rupees (dlrs 739 million) two months ago to 75 billion rupees (dlrs 875 million) to meet deferred payments for military procurements in 2000, Dow Jones Newswires reported Friday. In February, the government said it would allocate 63.4 billion rupees to defense spending, but the budget presented Thursday allocated an additional 11 billion rupees (dlrs 128 million). "There are deferred payments of 11 billion rupees due for some of last year's procurements," Treasury Secretary P. B. Jayasundera said. He did not specify what they were. The revised figure is only 6 percent less than last year's, when defense spending reached 80 billion rupees (dlrs 933 million) due to heightened battles in the north with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels. The government incurred huge extra costs in purchasing new fighter jets and weapons to beat back the separatists, who had scored a series of battlefield successes. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, have been fighting for 17 years to carve a Tamil homeland they call Eelam in the north and east of this island nation. More than 63,000 people have died in the war. They say they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese. |