Sri Lanka Plans Tax Cuts to Fuel Postwar Growth

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka plans to cut corporate taxes and adopt an inflation target for its central bank, aiming to bolster growth and anchor price expectations in the South Asian economy emerging from a 26-year civil war.President Mahinda Rajapaksa, unveiling the 2011 budget in Colombo today, announced plans to lower the value added tax for banks to 12 percent from 20 percent, reduce the levy on construction companies to 12 percent and offer breaks to tea and rubber companies. He forecast the budget deficit to narrow to 6.8 percent of gross domestic product from 8 percent in 2010. Source by: bloomberg businessweek -- By Anusha Ondaatjie and Kartik Goyal