Brace for challenging year: Treasury Secy

Finance and Mass Media and Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga yesterday said the year 2019 will be challenging year for Sri Lanka as the country has to carefully manage its debt position and give priority to maintain fiscal discipline.

He said this officially kicking off work at the Finance Ministry for the New Year. Sri Lanka has to settle a US$ 1 billion sovereign bond maturing in January 15, 2019 and another US $ 500 million sovereign bond maturing in April.

The country will have to keep on raising funds from various sources at least for the next few years as the country has to settle US$ 4 billion on average for five years, starting from this year.

Dr. Samaratunga noted that although the government was able to increase its income last year, the expenditure also rose simultaneously. 

Hence, he stressed that all Finance Ministry officials should focus on managing expenditure in 2019.  

The January 1 celebrations at the Finance Ministry took place with the patronage of Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, State Finance Minister Eran Wickramaratne and other key ministry officials.