Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera will present this year's budget in parliament this afternoon, with a likely focus on elections later this year. The budget was to be presented last November but was delayed due to political crisis in the country. <br />''<br />''<br />''Presidential elections are scheduled later this year and the budget will aim to give a further push to welfare programmes and improve investment climate. The economic growth during 2018 has dipped to record low of 3 percent. Finance ministry said the budget will target a deficit of 4.4 to 4.5 percent of GDP after provisionally reaching a gap of 5.3 percent last year. <br />''<br />''<br />''The United National Party (UNP)-led government could not present its budget as planned because President Maithripala Sirisena brought about a regime change on October 26 last year. The new government lasted only for 52 days. After the UNP was restored back to power, it presented a vote on account in parliament to allocate money for the first quarter of this year.<br />''<br />