Budget 2017 in Parliament Tomorrow

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake will present the third budget of the National Unity Government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at 2 p.m. in Parliament tomorrow.
This will be the 70th Budget of independent Sri Lanka.

Minister Karunanayake said the government targets a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2020 and has targeted a 4.7 per cent deficit for 2017. GDP has increased to Rs 11,183 Billion (US$ 82.3 B) in 2015 from Rs 6,414 Billion (US$ 56.7B) in 2010. Sri Lanka has a new phenomenon in its expenditure chain where a sizeable portion goes to social welfare and subsidies. Next year’s budget will allocate Rs 380 billion on welfare and subsidies.