‘The Tax Forum 2023’ organized by the Research Bureau of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) was held at Kingsbury Hotel recently to discuss the taxation policy introduced by the government in the 2023 budget.
Highlight of the event was the keynote speech made by the President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickramasinghe.
The President stressed the current tax policy in Sri Lanka is rather a rescue operation than a normal one. He said the new tax policy acts as a savior to the nation to bridge the huge budget deficit and generate revenue to bequeath economic benefits to the masses.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe stated that the budget presented for the year 2023 in Sri Lanka was mainly aimed at rescuing the economy.
The President said, once an agreement with the International Monetary Fund is reached, it will be presented to the Parliament and the latter will have the option to pass or reject it. If the proposal is rejected, the relevant parties should submit alternative proposals to the International Monetary Fund, he said.
He said apart from the Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce, no other party, person or institution has submitted any proposals or alternatives to the IMF and also said if this process is disrupted, Sri Lanka will not be able to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program and may lose the opportunity to do business with foreign countries.
Commenting on the debt restructuring process with the main creditors of Sri Lanka, the Paris Club, India and China, the President said the Paris Club has guaranteed its financial support for Sri Lanka and India is following its own method but China has not expressed agreement on its method so far. However, the President mentioned that their stand will be announced at the G-20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Bangalore, India.
