Sri Lanka targets budget deficit of 3.5-pct of GDP by 2020

Nov 05, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka wants to reduce the budget deficit to 3.

5 percent of gross national production in the medium term by 2020, the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made this statement in Parliament a short while ago while presenting the new governments medium term economic framework. The Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that Sri Lanka’s budget deficit will be around 6.



8 percent of GDP for this year, higher than the budgeted 4.

4 percent. The IMF mission concluding its visit to Sri Lanka last month said it projects a budget deficit of 5.5 to 6 percent of GDP in 2015 financed mainly by domestic borrowing. The mission strongly recommended keeping the 2016 budget deficit to 5.5 percent of GDP. The first Budget of the new Government will be presented to the Parliament on 20 November 2015.