Budget 2019 will empower people and nurture poor: Fin Min

Mar 05, 2019 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Budget – 2019 will focuses on Enterprise Sri Lanka empowering the people and nurturing the poor, the Finance Ministry said. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera will present the Government’s delayed Budget for 2019, today. The Finance Ministry has outlining its targets said it plans to increase public revenue to 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  with a deficit to 4.5 percent. However the Government has announced earlier that it will reduce the deficit to 3.5 percent by in 2020. The Budget was initially expected to be presented in November 2018 but was postponed due to the constitutional crisis which erupted on 26 October when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked sitting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa instead. A Vote on Account was passed following the reinstatement of Wickremesinghe and Budget 2019 is expected to cover the last eight months of this year.