The Ministry of Finance has released a report on financial operations for the first half of the financial year 2020-21.

According to the report, the revenue in July-December stood at Rs 3,351 billion and in the first half of the financial year, the revenue made up 7.4 percent of GDP.

During the July-December period, the budget deficit stood at Rs 1138 billion and in the first half of the financial year, the budget deficit was 2.5% of GDP, while in the first half, more than Rs 1475 billion was paid in interest.

According to the report, defense expenditure was Rs 486.50 billion from July to December making up 1.1pc of the GDP. Tax revenue accumulated was Rs 2,455.90 billion from July to December i.e. 5.4pc of the GDP, while domestic and foreign loans of Rs 1,138 billion were taken from July to December.

According to the report, net internal financing of Rs 683.39 billion was taken in the first half while petroleum levy of Rs 275.317 billion was received in six months.