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Lanka will try to reduce budget deficit this year: Chandrika
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka. Feb 9: Despite rising costs in facing a civil war tn the country s north and east, the Sri Lankan government will give priority to reducing the budget deficit this year. President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Friday, reporta AP.
Delivering the govern-ment s economic and political policy statement for the year. Kumaratunga said containing the deficit would be done "through a programme which would address structural weaknesses in government revenue and expenditure."
Sri Lanka's defence ex-Kditure rose to about 38 on rupees (716 million dollars) in 1995. about 13 Sw cent of the country's ross Domestic Product.
Analysts expect the expenditure to rise further this
year, with Tamil rebels intensifying their attacks.
■ The government has
blamed the rebels for last week's suicide truck bombing of the Central Bank in Colombo, which killed at
least 83 civilians.
Sri Lanka also faces a power crisis, as most of the country's power is hydroelectricity and the monsoon rains have not arrived as expected.
"The government is taking immediate steps to overcome the emerging power crisis, due to a long delayed Investment in this sector, coupled with the failure in the monsoon rainfall,* said Kumaratunga. She offered a wide-range of incentives to the private sector to Install their own power generators.
Analysts have warned that the decline*In rainfall may affect Srl Lanka's agricultural sector, while the manufacturing sector may also be affected in the event of a power crunch.
The privatisation Of Sri Lanka Telecom, Air -Lanka and Lanka Electric Company
will be done by mid-1996, Kumaratunga said. She also added that attempts will be made "to steer the economy in the direction of diversification into a range of higher value-added, high-tech industries.
The weakness of our Industrial economy is its excessive dependence on a limited range of products such aS textiles," she said.
"Waging the war has not deterred us. in. the implementation of our development plan." said Ku-
The rebels are fighting for a homeland in the country's north and east for minority Tamils, who claim discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
More than 40.000 people have been killed in the fighting since 1983.