COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karnanayake on behalf of the Government will present the 2017 budget to Parliament today (Thursday). This is his third budget .He said that the government has formulated this budget with the target of stimulsting economic growth that would result in job creation and income generation According to the Appropriation Bill presented ahead of the budget , the government has planned to reduce the budget deficit this time.
Ahead of the budget the government also introduced the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill despite heavy public critidism. This time we are giving a lot of emphasis on employment creation , export growth , infrastructure , agriculture, housing , roads, water projects and all of them. You will be surprised when you see the budget” minister ravi Karunanayake said. We are basically looking at the commercialization of it.
That is the modernization of it. We look at the introduction of high yielding crops.That is a way forward in the economy. We have a surplus. We have cut down the expenditure . We have increased revenue even though the minor opposition stymies it. We have steered the economy because we instilled fiscal discipline . There is criticism in the media on customs and all.Certainly we have given their capacity hesaid.
