President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance presented the 2023 budget to Parliament today (14) aimed at creating long-term, stable economic growth.
The 2023 budget has given special attention to the sectors of capital market, export market, labour market and digital economy and it is expected to achieve the budget targets through the social market economy.
The President said that the purpose of these proposals is to lay the basic foundation for transforming the economy that has continued to exist in our country.
He stated that the process of building a new economy suitable for the modern world, would be initiated through the budget proposals of 2023.
“Is the long-term development of a country be based on popular decisions? Or, the right decisions?,” he questioned, adding that in many cases, popular decisions were taken instead of correct decisions for the country.
“Even today, many people seek to make popular decisions. What was the result of this popular ruling tradition? To build a relief economy and mentality across the country.”
He said people are used to getting concessions as their right and that therefore governments do not work to create opportunities for people to develop, but only to provide relief.
“There is no future for the country by continuing on this popular path. There is no prosperity for the country by giving concessions while being in debt. So, let’s extricate ourselves from this situation now, and change our thinking.”
He also said they expect to achieve the following goals, initially through the social market economy or social-security-open-economy that we are creating.
• High economic growth of 7 to 8 percent
• Increasing international trade as a percentage of GDP by more than 100 percent
• Annual growth of US$ 3 billion from new exports from 2023 to 2032
• Foreign direct investment of more than US$ 3 billion in the next 10 years
• Creating an internationally competitive workforce with high skills in the next ten years
Read the President’s full budget speech below….
Budget 2023 Full Speech (English) by Adaderana Online on Scribd
