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Our principles

Every number comes from an official gazette. Nothing is estimated, rounded or invented, and every figure links to the page it was read from.
The tone is neutral. We do not praise or blame any person or party, and we do not use loaded words.
Departments are followed by Head number, because ministries are renamed, merged and split often.
A line that is missing in one year is not treated as a cut. It may have moved to another Head, so we say "not listed" and point to the source.

How to read a budget

A budget has three parts. The First Schedule lists money for general services by ministry, Head and programme. The Second Schedule lists spending that the Constitution or other laws require, such as debt servicing and pensions. The Third Schedule sets limits for advance accounts.

Each Head has two kinds of spending. Recurrent spending is the day-to-day cost of running a service. Capital spending builds or buys assets, or repays loans.

The documents here are Appropriation Bills as presented to Parliament, plus the 2020 Budget Estimates book. They show what the government asks Parliament to allow, not what was finally spent.

How the Rs 100 breakdown is built

Each rupee of total spending is placed in one group, using these rules.

Debt servicing (interest and repayments): The Department of Treasury Operations (Head 249), charged on the Consolidated Fund. It covers interest and loan repayments.
Pensions: The Department of Pensions (Head 253), charged on the Consolidated Fund.
Defence and security: Ministries whose name includes Defence, Public Security, Law and Order or Internal Security, with all their Heads.
Health: Ministries whose name includes Health, with all their Heads.
Education: Ministries whose name includes Education, with all their Heads.
Provincial councils: The Provincial Council Heads (312 to 319 and 321).
Public administration: Ministries whose name includes Public Administration or Public Services, after the Provincial Council Heads are taken out.
Everything else: All other ministries, plus other charged expenditure such as the independent commissions.

How we check the numbers

Before a year is published, a script checks that programmes add up to each Head, Heads add up to each ministry, ministries add up to the First Schedule total, charged items add up to the Second Schedule total, and the totals match the amounts written in words in section 2 of the Bill. The build stops if any check fails.

Printing errors in the gazettes

2021, Head 112: The gazette prints Programme 02 recurrent as '12,139,3800,000' (a typing error with an extra digit). The ministry total (Rs 12,362,605,000) less the other printed programmes (69,200,000 and 154,025,000) leaves exactly 12,139,380,000.
2022, Head 123: The text layer of this page is misplaced in the gazette PDF (amounts sit outside their columns). Placement confirmed against the printed ministry totals: recurrent 267,125,000 + 170,840,000 = 437,965,000 and capital 5,850,000 + 13,633,490,000 + 227,660,000 = 13,867,000,000.
2022, Head 311: Same misplaced text layer as Head 123 (see above).

What this site does not show yet

Actual spending. Budgets here are Bills and estimates. Where a final Act differs from a Bill, the Act is the legal figure.
Inflation-adjusted or per-person figures. These need sourced price and population series.
Head and programme detail for 2020, and the Third Schedule (advance accounts) for all years.

Glossary

Recurrent expenditure: The day-to-day cost of running services, such as salaries, supplies and maintenance.
Capital expenditure: Spending on assets and development, such as buildings, roads and equipment. In the schedules it also includes repayment of public debt by the Department of Treasury Operations.
Head: A numbered spending unit, usually a department. Head numbers stay the same when ministries are renamed, so this site follows each Head across years.
Programme: A Head is split into Programme 01 (operational activities) and Programme 02 (development activities).
First Schedule: Sums payable for general services, listed by ministry, Head and programme.
Second Schedule: Expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund by the Constitution or other laws, such as debt servicing, pensions and the independent commissions.
Third Schedule: Limits for advance account activities, such as advances to public officers.
Consolidated Fund: The main government account into which revenue is paid and from which spending is made.
Appropriation Bill: A draft law that lets the government spend money for a year. It becomes an Appropriation Act once Parliament passes it.
Borrowing limit: The most that may be outstanding from borrowing during or at the end of the year, as set in the Bill.
Nominal figures: Amounts at the prices of each year, not adjusted for inflation.

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