COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is aiming for a higher economic growth of 8.2 percent and a lower fiscal deficit target of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year, a government document showed on Thursday.
A cabinet paper submitted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the finance minister, showed that the $67-billion economy is expected to clock higher growth in 2015 than this year's estimated 7.8 percent expansion, while fiscal deficit is seen to be lower than this year's estimated 5.2 percent of GDP.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July cautioned Sri Lanka on its monetary and foreign exchange policies while urging it to do more to raise tax revenue and reduce debt. It also urged the country to consider a more ambitious debt target over the longer term.
Rajapaksa, who is expected to run for a third six-year term as early as in the first half of 2015, has estimated government expenditure of 3.053 trillion rupees ($23.44 billion) and revenue of 1.71 trillion rupees next year.
The document also showed that debt repayment is estimated at 840 billion rupees while total borrowing is capped at 1.34 trillion rupees for 2015. The budget deficit is estimated at 500 billion rupees for the next year.
The island-nation also aims to reduce total public debt to 71 percent of GDP next year from an estimated 75 percent this year, while increasing the public investment to 6.5 percent of GDP in 2015 from this year's 6 percent.
Sri Lanka also hopes to bring down inflation to 5.5 percent by end-2015 compared to this year's target of 6.0 percent, the document showed.
The document also revealed that the government, through a medium-term fiscal programme, is aiming for 8.4 percent growth in 2017, while reducing the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP and total debt to 65 percent in the same year.
Since the end of a nearly-three-decade war in May 2009, Sri Lanka's macroeconomic indicators have improved, but some economists and opposition parties have said the numbers have been manipulated to show a positive picture.
The government has rejected these claims.
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