Though the government is upbeat on its revenue earnings, Sri Lanka would find it very difficult to bridge the deficit in the 2015 budget, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned Sri Lanka.

The IMF has stated that once the government charges the one-off tax introduced through the 2015 budget, there are possibilities of the state revenue falling during 2016.

Accordingly, since the current expenditure rises when state revenue falls, it would be difficult to bridge the budget deficit, states the IMF.

The IMF adds that Sri Lanka has failed to bridge its budget deficit in 2014 and that due to the fall in state revenue the budget deficit had grown to 06 per cent of the GDP.

In 2013 Sri Lanka aimed to keep the budget deficit at 5.9 per cent of the GDP.