Prime Minister says the country will be free of debt burden by 2020

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that the ‘Good Governance’ Government is the only administration that reduced prices of food, fuel and other essential commodities and increased salaries at the same time.

The Premier made this statement at a function held at Temple Trees to distribute housing loans to families in the Colombo District.

At the event organised by the Ministry of Housing under the program ‘Semata Sevana Visiri Nivasa,’ Rs. 110 million was distributed among 1,100 families. A house valued at Rs. 4.2 million was handed over to an impoverished family. Women athletes who excelled in their fields were also given houses.

A survey report on housing needs was also handed over to the Prime Minister at the event.

Wickremesinghe said the previous Government collected revenue by increasing fuel prices but the present Government reduced the fuel prices to the world market level and only when the world market prices went up the prices were increased

He said the Government’s intention in the next two years was to create an economy with the debt burden is stabilised and increasing income enabling to repay the debt in the future. “What we have done during the past two years is taking the country out of the debt trap,” he said.

He said the country still did not have the strength to repay the loans in time but a good program had been initiated and it was succeeding not because of the Government’s economic management but because of the good relationships President Maithripala Sirisena’s Government maintains with the international community.

“When the economy develops, employment increases, income increases, houses increase and the education improves,” he said. “It is the society the Government wants to create and the results can be seen by year 2020. There will be a country fast developing and free of debts.”

The Prime Minister assured that the Government would come up with some tax concessions next month. He said investors who provide employment to people would be given tax concessions under the new Tax Revenue Act.