Government to present :

Far-sighted budget

H.D.H Senewiratne

The budget for 2013 would be presented to Parliament today. It is anticipated to be a forward looking budget which could achieve economic goals.

The Appropriation Bill moved to authorize the expenditure required during the 2013 financial year forecasts a 13.51 % increase in spendings from this year's estimate of Rs. 2.22 trillion to Rs. 2.52 trillion for 2013.

Rohantha Athukorala	Mahinda Saranapala	N.R. Gajendran	Prof A.D.V.de S Indraratna,

The budget allocations for the Defence and Urban Development Ministry is Rs. 289.5 billion. The amount is an increase of nearly Rs. 60 billion from last year's allocations of Rs 229.9 billion. The government has considerably increased spending on urban development, which comes under the Defence Ministry, government sources said.

Allocations to the Education Ministry have been increased by Rs 3.43 billion from last year to Rs 37.9 billion, while the Higher Education Ministry has been allocated Rs 27.9 billion, which is an increase of Rs 4.1 billion from 2012.

The total maximum borrowings for 2013 has been increased by 12.6 % from 2012 to Rs. 1.3 trillion. Daily News Business sought the views of professionals in the field. Here are some excerpts of their comments.

Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Colombo Prof A.D.V. de S Indraratna, said this budget should give some directional proposals to reduce the budget deficits and also external and internal borrowings in the country. He said that if these budget could provide some proposals to reduce borrowings and if the budget deficit could be reduced, this would redress most of our economic woes.

Accountant N.R. Gajendran said, since the government faces external and internal challenges, it needs to address internal issues to expedite the economic development in the country. He said that in 2012, the drought affected the country, which needed to be addressed as well.

Gajendran said that the amendment of certain taxes on items, was a good move. But revenue wise, the government should achieve its targets and curtail expenditure to maintain a stable economy, he said. This budget could help to address the budget deficits and exchange issues, which would provide relief to the public.

Corporate business personality Rohantha Athukorala said, Sri Lanka must address the process/procedure reforms required to make the country competitive and thereby attract investment. I hope the budget addresses this aspect. Myanmar is our new competitor who attracts US $ 10 billion in donor assistance, apart from private sector investment,” he added. Chief Executive Officer Kelani Cables Plc Mahinda Saranapala said this would be a tight budget.

Therefore, this budget should give some boost to the industrial sector to attract foreign investments. He said that this budget would give more assistance and support for the SME sector to promote our industrial sector to attract foreign exchange into the country.