“The Government plans to reduce the Budget deficit to about 4.5 percent of the GDP over the coming year, as much has already been accomplished in bringing micro-economic stability, particularly in terms of reducing the Budget deficit”, State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne told the Sunday Observer.
The specific measures that will be taken in the forthcoming Budget are under discussion and it will be a Budget that will strengthen the national economy, local business, local entrepreneurs and the local manufacturing industry, the State Minister said.
“We are basically in consultation and everybody’s suggestions and views are being entertained This was the same approach we adopted in the preparation of the Inland Revenue Bill and we are following a similar process talking to industry, entrepreneurs, chambers and various stakeholders. We are working on some reforms presently, stability is one pillar and reform is another,” he said. Speaking on another important goal that the Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera has highlighted, the Finance Ministry will try to obtain an increase of direct taxes to about 40 percent and bring down indirect taxes to about 60 percent,” he said. Minister Samaraweera has said this will create a more just society. “We must provide relief to those who are at the lower income bracket and that is another direction that the Finance Minister has set for the future,” the State Minister said.