Rajapaksa Seen Boosting Handouts Before Sri Lanka Vote
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South Asia’s fastest growth rate will allow Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to boost spending on pre-election handouts without halting the country’s record improvement in public finances.
The government, which last month cut petrol and diesel prices and slashed electricity tariffs by 25 percent, will probably also raise salaries for state employees and delay policies such as tax increases, Eurasia Group predicted. Sri Lanka is poised to reiterate today its plan to shrink the budget deficit to a 40-year low of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2015, according to Lanka Ratings Agency Ltd.