Finance Minister unveils tax concessions ahead of budget

 Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera announced tax concessions worth a monthly Rs.1.5 billion, a day ahead of presenting the 2018 budget, which is expected to focus on exports and fiscal consolidation.

Samaraweera cited the wisdom of a Chinese proverb about teaching people life skills.

“We will be following the Chinese philosophy that it is worth giving a hungry man a fishing rod than a fish to empower the country’s youth. However, we need to give some instant handouts as well,” Samaraweera told reporters.

“We need to kick start the economy, taking it to the heights it deserves,” he said when asked about Thursday’s budget.

The government has planned to bring down the budget deficit to 4.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year from this year’s 4.6 percent target, a condition of the IMF loan.

However, State Finance Minister Eran Wickramaratne said there could be some upward adjustments to this year’s budget deficit target due to bad weather.

“We are on target except there could be a 0.3-0.4 percent adjustment due to the floods and drought this year,” Wickramaratne told Reuters. “The total revenue for the year will have a little change.”