Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera began his budget speech, a short while ago. 

Samaraweera said the current government, which came to power on December 16 after a 51-day political crisis, has put the economy back on the "right track."

He said the political crisis cost the country its foreign reserves, but the current government has managed to reverse the downward trend. 

The Finance Minister added that the "coup government" has made many "damaging decisions", including the scrapping of the Gamperaliya programme. 

Samaraweera earlier tweeted that the theme of this year's budget will be 'empowering the people, nurturing the poor.'