Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-07-12

Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report - 2016

- The Minister of Finance is required to release a Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report to the public by the end of June of every Financial Year and thereafter table it in Parliament as stipulated in Section 10 of the Fiscal Management (Responsibility) Act, No.03 of 2003. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, the Minister of Finance, to table the Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report - 2016, in Parliament, was approved by the Cabinet and the following facts among the other information included in the Report, was noted:

* despite a number of domestic and international challenges, the Sri Lankan economy has been able to gain an economic growth of 5.5% in the first quarter of 2016, compared to a 4.4% growth in the same quarter of 2015;

* the Government revenue earned in the year 2015 has been increased by 19.5% in the year 2016, relevant to the period under review;

* inflation has continued to be maintained at a single digit level;

* although the total earnings from exports has declined by 4.5% amidst the instabilities prevailing in the international market, due to the increase of the foreign exchange flow through the earnings of foreign employee remittances and the tourism industry and also due to a considerable reduction in the import expenditure on food and beverages, petroleum products and transport equipment, the trade deficit in the first four months of the year 2016 has been reduced by 2.4%, when compared to the same period in the year 2015.