Sunday June 23, 2024
ECONOMYNEXT â Sri Lankaâs state-run National Water Supply and Drainage Board has made a profit of 5.2 billion rupees in the year to December 2023, after a tariff increase despite not getting money for 25 percent of its water it pumps out.
Total revenues went up to 61.8 billion rupees in 2023 from 35.4 billion rupees, a Finance Ministry report said.
Water revenue surged to 58.5 billion rupees from 33.1 billion rupees, cost of sales also went up to 32.8 billion rupees from 23.14 billion rupees, helping boost gross profits from 12.3 billion rupees to 29.0 billion rupees.
Finance costs surged to 14.9 billion rupees from 3.9 billion rupees,
NSWD reported net profits of 5.2 billion rupees for the year, against a loss of 2.7 billion rupees a year earlier.
The Treasury had given 28 billion rupees from tax payer money to settle loans.
During the Rajapaksa administration, macroeconomists who ran the Finance Ministry made state enterprises and authorities borrow money from banks through Treasury guarantees listing them as âcontingent liabilitiesâ, claiming they were âoff balance sheetâ.
The Road Development Authority, which had no revenues to speak of borrowed large amounts of money from banks which were listed as âcontingent liabilitiesâ though they were a responsibility of the state from day one, allowing macroeconomists to understate both the budget deficit and national debt, critics say.
The water tariffs were raised by 81 percent after macroeconomists printed money to supress interest rates for flexible inflation targeting/potential output targeting. The currency collapsed after macroeconomists tried to float the rupee with a surrender rule in place.
Non-revenue water for which no money is collected was 25.2 percent. The agency was supposed to reduce non-revenue water. In some districts religious establishments are responsible for non-revenue water, according to an official who said it on condition of anonymity.
The water board is also unable to collect money from some services like common toilets for underserved communities. (Colombo/June23/2024 â Update II)
