I am quite confident that the policy environment is quite conducive for taking our economy towards a six to eight percent growth path with significant reduction in poverty over the next three to five years.

The economy is performing well and we will follow through on the path we set out in the last budget,

We were able to maintain 6 percent growth this year despite increase of world oil prices, tsunami effect and many more in the country,

We have written to the finance ministers of the G-8 countries. We have asked basically for a total of five years because we are tsunami affected and think it will take that amount of time for rehabilitation.

Our own interaction with the public and different organizations have reflected similar concerns, ... My task is to address all these concerns in a viable economic and financial framework as well as within our overall pro-poor policy framework that our government announced last year.

I am proud to say that fully committed foreign aid, not merely pledges, now stand at 6.5 billion dollars,