President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his budget speech for 2015, proposed to increase minimum government salary to Rs. 15000 and to add all allowances to salary.

“With that, the minimum combined take home pay of state sector employees will be increased to Rs. 25,000,” the President said.

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He also added that a special pension scheme will be introduced for the apparel sector while proposing to increase the Samurdhi allowance by Rs. 3000, Rs. 2000 and Rs. 1000.

“Pre-school teacher will also get a monthly allowance of Rs. 2500,” he said while adding that students who get through Grade 5 exam will receive a monthly allowance of Rs. 1500.

Mahapola scholarships are also to be increased to Rs. 400, the President said.

Electricity tariff reduction was introduced for hotels and shops from this November.

In addition, foreign expatriates will also get a duty free vehicle import permit for 60% of their remittance.

A certified price of Rs. 60 was introduced for milk and the prices of local dairy products were also reduced.

The Budget also proposed to pay a monthly allowance of Rs 3000 to kidney patients. Allowance to elderly persons was also increased to Rs. 2000 from January 2015 while introducing a monthly transport allowance of Rs. 750 for differently-abled students.

An Aerospace Engineering Unit is also to be set up attached to the University of Moratuwa while a number of universities will get new faculties, the President said. In addition, it also proposed to develop main Sri Lankan towns under a special urban development programme.