Mahinda Rajapakse: Budget Deficit

Abstract

FALSE: “…the budget deficit which my government brought down to 5.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014, has increased to over 9.6 percent of the GDP by 2019… outstanding unpaid bills amounted to Rs. 243 billion, while the foreign debt financed expenditure amounted to Rs. 212 billion remained unaccounted […which] resulted in the reported budget deficit for 2019.”

-Mahinda Rajapaksa, Second reading of the 2020 Appropriation Bill, 13 November 2020