Govt. begins preliminary work on 2017 Budget preparation

The Government has begun preliminary work on formulating the budget proposals for 2017, according to the Finance Ministry officials. This will be the second budget of the Unity Government.

The relevant circular with guidelines to prepare budget estimates has already been sent to the Secretaries to the Ministries, Heads of the Departments and to other relevant officials, the Ministry officials said. Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake has said that the 2017 Budget proposals will be presented to the Parliament on 10 November allocating a month for debate.

In an earlier occasion the Minister said on the guidance of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, steps have been taken to compile public proposals for Budget 2017 on the sidelines of a series of meetings with the communities in rural areas.

Budget 2017 aims to achieve the targets of creating million occupations, increase of income, rural economic development, affirmation of land ownership, which are declared as the midterm targets of the Government.

The Cabinet of Ministers last month granted approval to the Finance Minister to prepare the budget 2017 to achieve an economic growth of 6% and maintain a budget deficit of 4.7% of the GDP.