Taxes, budget cuts to meet IMF conditions -Dr. Harsha de Silva

(Lanka-e-News 23.July.2009 4.40PM) Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal's statements to news agencies that the budget deficit will be cut to 7 percent of GDP this year is the clearest indication thus far that the government has agreed to extremely tough IMF conditions to obtain the USD 2.5 billion bailout. Just a few days ago, the Finance Ministry reported that the deficit for the first four months alone; January to April, had reached an unprecedented 4 percent.