The Leader of the House Minister Bimal Rathnayake stated that the revised terms of the agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be included in the upcoming Budget.
Rathnayake made these comments during the debate in parliament on the government’s policy statement.
“We said that we will have to work within the framework of the International Monetary Fund in the next three years. Within that, we hope to make revisions. Yes, we have made revisions. We have discussed with them and presented the revisions. The people of the country will know those revised terms through the Budget,” he explained.
Addressing claims made by former president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who said that the government had lied about reducing VAT, Rathnayake mentioned that VAT would indeed be lowered and he further explained that any reduction in taxes can only be implemented through a parliamentary bill.
The Leader of the House further mentioned that the first plan in relation to the VAT reduction will be implemented starting with the Budget.
