Harsha says fall in revenue is alarming; raises questions on GDP growth figures

Wednesday, 20 November 2013 11:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

UNP MP and its Chief Spokesman on the economy Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday opined that the fall in Government revenue as exclusively reported by the Daily FT yesterday was alarming and raised questions on the GDP growth figures released recently. Following is the full text of Dr. de Silva’s statement. The Treasury was expected to collect Rs. 463.8 billion in taxes for the first six months of this year. But it has only managed to collect Rs. 435.4 billion; a shortfall of Rs. 28.4 billion or 6.5%. This is a significant deviation from the target. The estimate for the full year 2013 is Rs .1,131 billion or in other words, the second half of this year has to be so good that tax collections would need to be 60% more than the first half. But if one considers last year it’s not difficult to conclude that is not possible, unless there is phenomenal growth in the economy in the second half. If on the other hand GDP growth increases to around the 7.5% figure touted by the Government while tax revenues continue to falter, then serious questions will arise as to the accuracy of the GDP data. We await Thursday’s budget for answers. It is worthwhile noting that the public had to wait till the end of the second week November for the Treasury to release the Government income and expenditure up until the end of June. The delay, for which various lame excuses were given, is however, now clear.

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