Ceylon Chamber says “realistic budget”

Sri Lanka’s premier business chamber, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), yesterday identified Budget 2019 as a “more realistic budget”, given the current political and economic situation of the country.

“The 2019 national budget proposes a mix of measures to balance the short-term macroeconomic pressures in the economy with the long-term development agenda. 
We acknowledge the efforts of the government in not delivering overly populist proposals as expected in the lead up to the budget. 

There exists a lack of connectivity with the overall vision proposed by the government through Vision 2025. However, we feel it is a more realistic budget, given the present political economy of the country,” the CCC said in a statement.  

However, the business chamber expressed concern on the GDP estimates provided in the budget speech.
According to Budget 2019, the economy is projected to grow from 3 percent in 2018 to only 4.8 percent by 2024. 

“The growth estimates for this period is not a positive signal for the business climate,” the chamber noted. 

The CCC also pointed out that Budget 2019 did not address some of the fundamental issues of the economy, such as state-owned enterprise reform that would enable Sri Lanka to move towards higher economic trajectory.

While lauding the government for including some of the budget proposals formulated by its membership, the CCC stressed on the swift implementation of such laudable proposals in consultation with the country’s private sector.

“This will be further challenged, given that the effective implementation of the proposals will be limited to a nine-month period. 

The past performance of the government in implementing the budget proposals has been disappointing. It is our hope that the government will be serious about implementation and that the expectations from the proposals will be realized,” the CCC said.