When creating the 2026 budget, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has urged officials to give digitalization, bolstering public transportation, and integrating rural areas into the economy top priority.
According to a statement from the president’s media office, officials informed the president that spending agencies had received a circular requesting proposals within the allotted expenditure limitations by the end of July.
According to the statement, the president has “directed officials to concentrate more on projects centered around areas like digitalization, bolstering public transportation, and integrating rural communities into the economic framework.”
The President went on to say that simply providing funding for projects is insufficient.
“He underlined the importance of strengthening the required mechanisms to ensure this outcome and the necessity of evaluating whether the intended benefits of those projects are actually reaching the people.”
Economic analysts claim that Sri Lanka had sharply increased taxes on three-wheelers, a vital means of rural mobility, and raised the living conditions of craftsmen and those without access to vehicles following a currency crash brought on by inflationary rate cuts.
Participating in the meeting were Anil Jayantha Fernando, Minister of Labor and Deputy Minister of Economic Development; Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the President; and Harshana Suriyapperuma, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance.
