Sri Lanka recorded a budget surplus of Rs. 9.5 billion in the first half of 2026, according to the Finance Ministry’s Fiscal Review Report — a turnaround from the Rs. 405.6 billion deficit registered in the same period of 2025.
Total revenue and grants rose 27.1% year-on-year to Rs. 2.95 trillion between January and June, reaching 55.8% of the Rs. 5.3 trillion annual estimate.
Tax revenue expanded 25.9% to Rs. 2.71 trillion, or 55.2% of the full-year target of Rs. 4.9 trillion. Non-tax earnings rose more sharply, up 43.6% to Rs. 243.6 billion, already fulfilling 67.7% of the projected Rs. 360 billion for the year.
Grants moved in the opposite direction, falling 46.4% to Rs. 1.8 billion — just 6% of the Rs. 30 billion budgeted.
Total government expenditure grew 7.9% to Rs. 2.94 trillion, representing 39.0% of the Rs. 7.5 trillion annual projection. Recurrent spending rose 6.5% to Rs. 2.66 trillion, while capital expenditure and net lending increased 23.6% to Rs. 276.6 billion — though that figure represents only 16.1% of the Rs. 1.7 trillion capital estimate, pointing to slow execution of the investment programme.
The primary balance, the indicator tracked most closely under Sri Lanka’s IMF-supported reform programme, registered a surplus of Rs. 1.24 trillion, up from Rs. 859 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Sri Lanka Customs led revenue collection with Rs. 1.29 trillion, meeting 58.5% of its Rs. 2.2 trillion annual estimate. The Inland Revenue Department collected Rs. 1.24 trillion, or 52.0% of its Rs. 2.4 trillion goal, and the Excise Department gathered Rs. 138 billion, reaching 56.5% of its Rs. 245 billion projection. Other revenue streams brought in Rs. 35.0 billion.
The half-year figure is considerably narrower than the Rs. 197.3 billion surplus reported through the first five months of the year, which was based on Central Bank data. The two sets of figures come from different reporting agencies, but read together they indicate that expenditure outpaced revenue during June, all but erasing the surplus accumulated earlier in the year.
