VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka unveiled fresh measures on Tuesday in an interim budget aimed at clinching a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, talks for which, the president said, had reached the "final stage".

The budget revised up the island nation's deficit projection for 2022 to 9.8% of the gross domestic product from 8.8% earlier, while outlining a slide in tax revenue and a sharp net increase in expenditure.

Unveiling the measures in parliament, President Ranil Wickremesinghe added that the government would aim to rein in inflation and introduce legislation to bolster central bank independence.

The country of 22 million is battling its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948. Wickremesinghe, who took over as president last month, is pushing to adopt fiscal consolidation measures agreed with the IMF.

"The government has taken sufficient fiscal reforms, including the VAT hike in the interim budget as well as income tax raises ... which were pre-requisites from a fiscal angle to qualify for the staff-level agreement," said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at Colombo-based investment firm CAL Group.

Negotiations with the IMF, which has a team of officials visiting Sri Lanka, had made headway, said Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister.

"The government has taken sufficient fiscal reforms, including the VAT hike in the interim budget as well as income tax raises ... which were pre-requisites from a fiscal angle to qualify for the staff-level agreement," said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at Colombo-based investment firm CAL Group.

Negotiations with the IMF, which has a team of officials visiting Sri Lanka, had made headway, said Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister. (Reuters)