IMF says Sri Lanka is likely to miss fiscal deficit target

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that Sri Lanka was likely to miss its fiscal deficit target, reports India's Economic Times.

The country's official fiscal deficit target had been 4.4%, however in 2015 it was likely to be 5.5% to 6%, the IMF said.

Sri Lanka's growth is also lower than the government's projected growth target of 7%, at only 5% to 5.5% the IMF mission head, Todd Schneider said.

Earlier this year the IMF expressed concern over Sri Lanka's fiscal deficit.

"In the absence of new measures to create a more durable increase in tax collection, revenues in 2016 will drop as the one-off measures expire, while the permanent increase to recurrent spending from the revised 2015 budget will likely push the deficit higher," the IMF said in a statement released in May. 

See more here.

Related articles:

‘IMF have come to help us’ says Sri Lankan finance minister (12 Sep 2015)

Sri Lanka to reapply for $4 billion IMF bailout amidst deficit anxiety (30 Aug 2015)

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