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Pay hike planned in coming budget - Prof. Peiris

by Manjula Fernando and Rajmi Manatunga

A public sector pay hike is one of the many welfare measures the government has planned to grant in the coming budget, Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris said yesterday.

He said: "Sound policies of the government and steps to maintain rigorous discipline in all sectors had put the country's economy on a sound footing and we plan to deliver these dividends to the people."

Growth has been indicated by several sectors. For example, tourist arrivals and earnings during the past six months has gone up by 28 per cent.

Port profits have also increased by 7 per cent while private sector remittances have gone up by 11 per cent due to the increased investor confidence.

Among the other indicators of the economic revival are 13 per cent growth of credit to private sector, the Rs 11 billion repayment by the Government to the banking sector during the past four months, the primary deficit deduction from Rs. 96,000 to 82,000 million and the reduction of the inflation rate from 10 per cent to 9 per cent. The Minister said that the Government's target was to keep the overall budget deficit at not more than 7.5 per cent of GDP. "In view of the marked improvement that has taken place during the past half year, we are now confident this can be held at 6.5 per cent."

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