Sri Lankan parliament passes interim budget

<p>Sri Lanka’s parliament has passed an interim budget in the lead up to election pledging 1.47 trillion rupees (£6.32 billion) to be spent in the first four months of 2020.</p> <p>The budget passed unanimously and expects to raise 745 billion rupees during those first four months whilst seeking permission to gain a loan of 721 billion rupees. Sri Lanka currently holds a fiscal deficit of 2.2% of GDP.</p> <p>The two front-runners for the presidential candidates, Sajith Premasada and Gotabata Rajapaksa, have claimed that if they would provide a number of handouts including free of charge fertilizers and higher wages.</p> <p>Sri Lanka’s finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, has stated that the country could see a 3% economic growth across the east of this year despite the economic upset caused by the Easter Sunday bombing in which over 250 people were killed.</p> <p>Read more <a href="https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/sri-lanka-parliament-passes-…">here</a>.</p>