Sri Lanka shares end up after 2024 budget sets ambitious revenue, deficit targets

BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Monday after the country’s 2024 budget set ambitious revenue and deficit targets.

The CSE All Share index settled up 0.24% at 10,898.90.

The island nation’s government set a fiscal deficit target of 2.85 trillion Sri Lankan rupees ($8.73 billion) in 2024, or 9.1% of GDP, higher than the revised 8.5% of GDP in the current year. The original target for this year was 7.9%.

The government also projected total tax revenue at 4.1 trillion rupees for 2024, sharply higher than 2.85 trillion rupees in the current year, with the biggest jump coming from the goods and services tax receipts, the budget document showed.

Sri Lanka shares end lower dragged by financials

C T Holdings PLC and Hatton National Bank PLC were the top gainers on the CSE All Share, rising 10.12% and 4.79%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 19.2 million shares from 25.3 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 558.7 million rupees from 1.02 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 18.3 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 550.5 million rupees, the data showed.