President Ranil Wickremesinghe today (July 13) stressed the importance of financial discipline in nation-building and announced plans to promptly introduce formal measures to control public expenditure and generate new government revenue.

The Head of State highlighted the need to maximize the value of every rupee spent by the government, as currently, public expenditure often fails to achieve this objective.

He expressed concern over not only the neglect of public revenue but also the unrestricted spending of public funds on non-beneficial activities, which has contributed to the economic crisis in the country.

Speaking further, President Wickremesinghe attributed the current financial problems to the lack of parliamentary discussions on this matter in the past two or three years. To address this issue, he informed that several committees have been established in the parliament to examine the state’s financial situation and income tax matters.

He made these remarks during the presentation of a report by the committee chaired by State Minister for Finance, Economic Stabilization, and National Policy, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, which aims to propose strategies for generating new sources of income for the state. The report was submitted to the President by State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday (July 12).

The report encompasses recommendations aimed at establishing a structured framework to attain the revenue goals of the Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka Customs, and the Excise Department, the President’s Media Division (PMD) says. It also suggests the implementation of novel approaches to augment government revenue and the creation of a digital economic infrastructure to support these endeavours.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe directed the Minister of State to engage in further discussions regarding these proposals and present them to the Parliamentary Committee on Ways and Means.

Furthermore, the President emphasized the utmost importance of leveraging digital technology to its fullest potential in implementing these recommendations.

He also emphasized the necessity of formally informing the public about these initiatives through an extensive media campaign.