Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera reiterated his endorsement of the 2018 budget, stating that liberalisation was "non-negotiable".
His comments come after the country's Minister of Ports and Shipping, Mangala Samarasinghe criticised the budget's proposed plan to allow 100% foreign ownership in the shipping sector as "completely wrong".
Stating that he was "willing to listen to suggestions where there may be mistakes to correct", Mr Samaraweera was further quoted by Economy Next as saying, "but the main theme of the budget, ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ and liberalisations are non-negotiable."
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