Colombo: Sri Lanka's Parliament on Thursday approved the 2023 budget, with 123 lawmakers voting for it and 80 opposing it in the 225-member House. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, presented the budget on November 14 featuring tax reforms to raise revenue by over 65 per cent. The budget is seen as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) friendly budget.
On Thursday, the Parliament passed the budget for the year 2023 following the third reading, with 123 lawmakers voting for and 80 against it. Two lawmakers abstained. On November 22, the second reading of the budget was approved by a majority of 37 votes in Parliament with 121 members voting in favour and 84 against.
Wickremesinghe told parliament that the budget was aimed to introduce unpopular reforms as the current unprecedented economic crisis the island is faced with was largely due to many popular decisions taken historically for political reasons. "The government has no income. Printing money would cause the devaluation of the rupee. If we are to raise VAT it would lead to problems," Wickremesinghe summed up the poor fiscal situation.