The Banker mag picks Ravi K as Finance Minister of the Year, Asia-Pacific

Hahahaaaaaaa

what a JOKE, that magazine has lost all credibility by this.

Indonesian FM will hang herself. She resurrected the there economy without taking IMF loan saying it'll handicap there economy if they take that Loan. Now she has managed to make that economy one of the most promising growing economy in the world. They were in a deeper than us 3yrs ago. Now look at them.

Bankers magazine main criteria is taking IMF loan = you're a great FM.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2017/01/09/tax-reform-team-aim-higher-the-force-is-with-you.html

Indonesia is doing well in their policies.
Last year they took bold decision to allowed VISA free entry for citizens of many countries including Sri Lanka and gaining popularity among tourists.

Our people increased airport tax to 7500 LKR from last week.
If you go KUL by Air Asia , one way Ticket is 7000 + Katunayaka Tax 7,500.
මැද පෙරදිග​, කොරියා යන අයගෙනුත් ටිකට් එකෙන් 7,500 ගානෙ කොල්ල කනව​. ඒ මිනිස්සු ගිහින් එවන සල්ලි වලින් රට දුවවනව​.

There is no Finance Minister in the world who has consistently confused the people like Ravi K. 'The Banker' must have used consistent confusion as the sole criteria in selection.

Chinwi wrote:The Banker !

 රවී තුමා කරපු සේවය අගැයීම ඒ අයගෙ පැත්තෙන් සාධාරනයි.
තව ටික දවසකින් රට බෙදුවම නොබේල් සාම තෑග්ගත් තව අයට දෙන්න බලන් ඉන්නෙ.

Our people look at everything in colored glasses.

[size=36]Sri Lankan Finance Minister is an utter failure — IMF

( March 5, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) says the contributions and interventions made by finance minister Ravi Karunanayake to overcome Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is wholly unsatisfactory. The minister is accused of a large scale of corruption and misusing the state resources since he assumed the office.
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Excepting construction and tourism, all other sectors are experiencing a serious collapse, the fund’s South Asian representatives say in a special report.
The report coincides with IMF chief Christine Lagarde’s tour of the country starting tomorrow (06) to advise the government on how to come out of the economic crisis.
Reliable sources say she will hand over the report that covers the 2016 budget, state financial policy, tax regime, reduction in local and foreign borrowings, corruption etc. to the prime minister during her visit.
The IMF report is critical of the government’s failure in settling the loans and formulating a proper tax policy to improve state revenue.
Furthermore, it has questioned a lack of interest in curbing corruption in the state sector and the non-implementation of its proposals with regard to loss-making institutions.
http://www.slguardian.org/2017/03/sri-lankan-finance-minister-an-utter-failure-imf/

Please don't tell half story.

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/sri-lanka-fulfilled-dec-fiscal-targets-eyes-on-soe-reforms-imf/

Mar 07, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs to accelerate implementation of structural reforms in public financial management and state owned enterprises, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, concluding a staff visit.
A staff team from the IMF led by Jaewoo Lee visited Colombo during February 21-March 7, 2017 to hold discussions on the second review of the Sri Lankan authorities’ economic program that is being supported by a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The program aims to support the authorities’ ambitious reform agenda to put public finances on a sustainable footing and create space for its social and development program.
At the end of the visit IMF staff team head Lee commended the authorities for strong efforts in implementing their IMF-supported economic reform program with all fiscal quantitative targets through end-December being met.
“Substantial progress has been made in stepping up revenue collections and automating revenue administration, which has been the basis for meeting fiscal targets,” he said.
“However, net international reserves fell short of the target and progress on implementing structural benchmarks was somewhat uneven with some of the reforms lagging behind intended timelines.”
The mission and the authorities have discussed decisive actions to maintain the reform momentum in light of uncertain external environment.
The mission said it is important for the government to continue on the revenue based fiscal consolidation and generate adequate resources to support its social and development objectives while maintaining debt sustainability.
“Notably, advancing the legislative process for the new Inland Revenue Act, with effective public consultations, is a critical step towards rebalancing the tax system toward a more predictable, efficient and equitable structure.”
The mission encourages the Central Bank to remain vigilant in monitoring inflation pressures and stand ready to tighten monetary policy if inflation or credit growth does not abate.
“In light of mounting external pressures, the mission encourages the CBSL to take stronger actions towards rebuilding international reserves and maintaining exchange rate flexibility.”
“In this regard, the mission and the authorities discussed IMF technical assistance to facilitate transition to flexible inflation targeting framework.”
The mission also encourages the government to accelerate implementation of structural reforms in public financial management and state owned enterprises (SOEs), building on the substantial technical assistance received so far.
“In this regard, finalizing and publishing Statements of Corporate Intents for large SOEs is the first necessary step for enhancing transparency and accountability in the reform process.”
“The mission also supports the ongoing work to design reforms in the business environment and competitiveness which are supported by a number of development partners.”
The mission met with Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Governor of the Central Bank, parliamentarians, other public officials, and representatives of the business community, civil society and international partners