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High-powered bureau to achieve Gota’s economic targets
View(s):A National Policy and Plan Implementation Bureau is to be set up to achieve the targets of the economic policies spelt out in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election manifesto.
The bureau will be established under the guidance of the President together with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Policy Development.
Cabinet approval to set up the bureau was granted this week.
During the previous government, a National Economic Council and the Strategic Enterprise Management Agency were established but were abolished later, the cabinet paper noted.
The proposed Bureau’s organisational structure, employee’s salary scale and specific performance criteria will be presented to the Cabinet.
Accordingly, the Bureau will focus on achieving an average economic growth rate of 6.5 percent or higher, reaching a per capita income exceeding USD 6,500, reducing the unemployment rate to four percent, and maintaining the budget deficit as a GDP percentage of less than four percent, a single digit interest rate and the rupee at a constant level, the cabinet paper noted.