Budget deficit to come down to 4.7% in 2017 from targeted 5.4 % this year, says Ravi
View(s):An IMF team met Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake earlier this week during a mission review of the ongoing US$1.5 billion loan approved for Sri Lanka under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support the country’s economic reform agenda. Jaewoo Lee, from the IMF’s Washington office and Country Representative for Sri Lanka and Maldives Ms. Eteri Kyintradgze met the Minister in Colombo where progress of the reforms agenda of the government was discussed. Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga was also associated in the discussions, a Ministry media release said. Earlier the IMF’s Executive Board in June approved a 36-month ETF for Sri Lanka for an amount equivalent to SDR 1.1 billion (about $1.5 billion) for the country’s economic reforms process. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake who thanked the IMF for its timely assistance explained in detail the economic targets set by the unity government.
Elaborating the government’s fiscal consolidation target, the Minister said that the government was very clear in gradually reducing the overall fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2020. ”We had a budget deficit of 6.7 per cent of the GDP last year and this year’s target will be 5.4 per cent. It will be further reduced to 4.7 per cent in 2017,” the Minister was quoted as saying. He also briefed the IMF team on the policies and programmes undertaken to support adjustment and reforms. Apart from fiscal consolidation, other areas included under reforms are revenue mobilization, public financial management and the reforms in state-owned enterprises. The first tranche of the loan was disbursed in June and the rest will be disbursed in five equal tranches with the next tranche due in November.