MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Japan Special Fund, through ADB, will provide a grant of $300,000 to help Sri Lanka identify measures to contain expenditures and increase revenues in the medium term, in order to support its fiscal consolidation program. The Government will provide the equivalent of $60,000 for the technical assistance project, said a press release issued by the Asian Development Bank on August 22.

“The project aims to help reduce poverty by supporting sustainable fiscal management and good governance,” said Bruno Carrasco, Principal Economist for the Financial Sector of ADB’s South Asia Department.

The project will review public spending in three target areas– agriculture, education and health– in order to identify unproductive and duplicate spending in the sectors, which account for the bulk of Government expenditure. It will also help the Ministry of Finance and Planning find ways to increase the effectiveness of its public spending.

Other elements will include a blueprint for streamlining revenue administration at two selected provincial councils; a proposal for deepening reforms in the Government’s Treasury Fund Transfer System; and a plan to establish a training facility that will help develop capacity in the area of public fiscal management.