Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa presenting the budget 2020 in Parliament yesterday, stated that the vision of the government is to strengthen the state enterprises instead of privatizing them.
In order to strengthen the enterprises, professional boards of directors have been appointed and it is also required to infuse state capital, he said.
Sri Lankan Airlines (SLA) is the national carrier. Due to the suspension in 2015 of the 2013 commenced programme to strengthen the SLA by infusing capital of USD 500 million over 5 years, and the subsequent efforts to privatize the SLA, has made it financially weak, he said.
Prime Minister Rajapaksa said as such, it is expected to infuse USD 500 million of capital in the medium term and of which USD 150 million would be provided in 2020.
Stating that at the same time, several expenditure heads included in the Appropriation Bill will be amended, the Prime Minister thereafter tabled those amendments.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa further proposed to increase the borrowing limit stated in the budget for the year 2020. (NewsWire)