Sri Lanka will fall short of its 2017 revenue target because of delays in adopting budget proposals, while flood relief after the worst torrential rains in 14 years pushed up Government spending.
âWe will rearrange and cut some expenditure to meet the deficit target,â Finance Secretary R.H.S. Samaratunga told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting in Colombo.
âUnless there is approval for more borrowing, we canât go with the same expenditure we had targeted.â
Sri Lanka has committed to cut the budget deficit to 4.6% of the GDP this year from the last yearâs 5.4% to satisfy conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for a $1.5 billion loan it approved mid last year.
Sri Lanka has targeted revenue of Rs. 2,088 billion ($13.68 billion) this year, a 27% rise from last yearâs total.
However, the Finance Ministry now expects full-year revenue to lag its target and settle around Rs. 1,900 billion, according to the assessment based on 31 July revenue figures.
The Government will present a new tax bill demanded by the IMF as a condition next week and Samaratunga said some of the new proposals will be implemented from 1 October to raise the revenue for this year.
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