Tax cuts could cost Rs500bn: Rambukwella

Keheliya Rambukwella

ECONOMYNEXT: Sri Lanka’s tax cuts could cost around Rs.500 to 550 billion a year, but will boost economic growth and future tax revenues, State Minister for Investment Promotion Keheliya Rambukwella said.

“According to our calculation, we may lose about Rs.550 billion,” Minister Rambukwella told reporters in Colombo.

Rambukwella said Sri Lanka’s tax collections were about Rs. 1 trillion in 2014, with which they ran the economy, which was more than doubled by the last administration.
“Even if we lose Rs.500 billion, we will have Rs.1.5 trillion to manage the economy,” Rambukwella stressed.

“We can control it. When Mahinda Rajapaksa took over the economy the GDP was US$ 20 billion. We raised it to US$ 80 billion in 10 years.
He said the government will grow the economy, bringing more investors to the country.

He said loss-making State enterprises will be turned around. The Finance Ministry has said expenditures will also be cut.
Sri Lanka was targeting tax revenues of about Rs.2.2 trillion in 2019, but revenues have slowed in the wake of monetary instability in 2018.