2019 Budget Speech (update)

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The Minister of Finance Managala Samaraweera presented the Budget proposal for the Year 2019 to the Parliament today (5).

The proceedings are scheduled to commence at 2.00 p.m. when the ‘Budget Proposals’ are announced with the reading of the Budget Speech at the second reading of the Appropriation Bill.

The Finance Ministry says that the Budget 2019 will be themed “Enterprise Sri Lanka – Empowering the People, Nurturing the Poor”.

The ministry said it plans to increase public revenue to 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a deficit to 4.5 percent.

The Budget was initially expected to be presented in November 2018 but was postponed due to the constitutional crisis which occurred in the country on 26 October when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked sitting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa instead.

A Vote on Account was passed following the reinstatement of Wickremesinghe while the Budget 2019 is expected to cover the last eight months of this year.