The Consolidated Fund, And Everything You Need To Know About It
With Sri Lanka’s Parliament dissolved, there is a debate raging on the legality of drawing funds from the Consolidated Fund to pay for key public expenses. Chapter XVII of Sri Lanka’s Constitution specifies that Parliament must oversee Sri Lanka’s public finances. However, the extraordinary situation Sri Lanka found itself in when it was forced to postpone scheduled Parliamentary elections to deal with the unexpected COVID19 pandemic has resulted in the Consolidated Fund being used without constitutionally mandated Parliamentary oversight. While the debate remains unresolved, we thought we’ll write a quick explainer on what the Consolidated Fund is.