The Sri Lankan government has decided to establish a unit to help with the restructuring of state-owned enterprises.
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday while presenting the Interim Budget for 2022 to parliament.
Wickremesinghe said about 556,000 U.S. dollars have been allocated to establish the implementation unit to restructure state-owned enterprises, recording losses for a long time due to structural issues.
According to him, the treasury cannot keep on funding such entities and a mechanism to make them effective needs to be found.
The president also said significant fiscal risks arise from a few state-owned enterprises, particularly SriLankan Airlines, Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
He said Value Added Tax will be increased from 12 per cent to 15 per cent effective Sept. 1, while retirement age of government and semi-government employees will be reduced to 60 years.
(Xinhua/NAN)
