Ravi is Banker Magazine’s Finance Minister of the Year, Asia-Pacific 2016
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Ravi Karunanayake
UK-based The Banker magazine has selected Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake as the Finance Minister of the Year (2016) for Asia-Pacific ‘for his efforts to steer Sri Lanka into a new era of economic reform and a change of mindset’.
The banker a prestigious international financial publication published in London inter alia selects the finance minister of the year who has best managed to stimulate growth and stabilize the economy of their country, according to a Finance Ministry media release.
The magazine said Mr. Karunanayake secured a US$1.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme that the country needed to avoid a balance of payments crisis, replenish reserves and rebuild confidence among international investors.
“Sri Lanka’s budget deficit has dropped from 7 per cent when Karunanayake took office in January 2015 to 5.4 per cent in 2016 – below the targeted expectations of 5.6 per cent. After a visit in September 2016, the IMF said Sri Lanka’s tightening of fiscal and monetary policies has been effective and that it met the IMF program’s targets through to the end of June 2016,” the release added.
According to latest data Sri Lanka’s total government revenue grew from Rs. 1205 in 2014 to Rs. 1,461 billion in 2015. Tax revenue rose from Rs. 1,050 billion to Rs. 1,356 billion in the same period. This is crucial for Sri Lanka, which has a very low tax revenue-to-gross domestic product ratio, it said.
Meanwhile independent bankers said they were surprised by the accolade given the mess in the 2016 budget and its related policy inconsistencies under the Finance Minister’s watch.