Parliament approve 47% rise in T-bill borrowing limit

Wednesday, 21 October 2015 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s parliament on Tuesday approved a plan to raise the T-bill borrowing limit by 47%, as the island nation seeks to bridge a higher budget deficit gap amid a slow pace in revenue growth.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake presented the bill in parliament to raise the limit on Treasury bill borrowing by Rs. 400 billion ($2.84 billion) to Rs. 1.25 trillion. The parliament also approved seven other bills to raise government revenue by around Rs. 60 billion through tax, including from a retrospective corporate tax on companies with more than Rs. 2 billion of profit in the last financial year.

Karunanayake said on Monday the budget deficit would reach 6.5 to 6.8% of gross domestic product in 2015, up from the government’s target of 4.4% due to additional expenditure amid slower growth in revenue.

The bill had been previously presented in April, before 17 August parliamentary election, but it was defeated as the government did not command a majority in the parliament.