Rs. 680 million in loans obtained by farmers from state banks to be waived off excluding interest.
President says he intends to establish the Parliament Committee on Ways and Means, to closely look into the issue that arise when increasing government income and submit proposals.
A branch of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) to be established in Kurunegala.
A National Debt Management Agency that operates independently proposed to be established under the Treasury.
As a government policy, the government will suspend the purchase of vehicles that use fossil fuel for government purposes from hereon. Only electric vehicles will be purchased hereafter to be used for government purposes.
President proposes to offer 20% state of state-owned banks such as Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank to employees and depositors.
Delivering the interim budget speech, President says 61,000 low-income families will be given an allowance of Rs. 10,000 per month for a period of 4 months.
An additional allowance of Rs. 2,500 to be given to pregnant mothers, in addition to the Rs. 20,000 allowance.
President says a new Central Bank Act will be introduced.
He proposed to introduce a mandatory requirement for all citizens above the age of 18 to register with the Inland Revenue Department
The State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit will be established and Rs. 200 million will be allocates for this purpose, the President said.
He said all government and semi-government employees who have served up to the age of 60 years should retire by December 31, 2022.
Retirement age of government and semi-government employees will be reduced to 60 years, the President said.
The programme to ensure food security will be launched together with the UN and other international organisations, says the President.
“We indent to hold talks with the major creditors to Sri Lanka regarding debt restructuring,” he said.
President says that Sri Lanka’s discussions with the IMF are successful and have reached the final stages. Once the discussions are complete, the Parliament will be informed, he said.
President Wickremesinghe announced that the Value Added Tax (VAT) will be increased from 12% to 15% with effect from September 01, 2022.
Based on that foundation and through the 2023 Budget, the process of building a new economy will be commenced, he said.
This is the basic foundation of preparing a national economic policy that suits today’s world, he said.
“Hon. Speaker, today we will present to the Parliament the Interim Budget that will lay the foundation for changing the economic design which existed in our country thus far,” he said, commencing his speech.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe begins the Interim Budget Speech 2022.
