Government revenue
In 2017, "The Banker" magazine selected Karunanayake as the best finance minister in Asia pacific for securing a $1.5 billion International Monetary Fund loan programme to avoid a balance of payments crisis, replenish reserves and rebuild confidence among international investors. Government revenue grew from Rs. 1205 in 2014 to Rs. 1,461 billion in 2015. Tax revenue rose from Rs. 1,050 billion to Rs. 1,356 billion in the same period which is crucial for Sri Lanka as it has a very low tax revenue-to-gross domestic product ratio. Sri Lanka’s tax records also grew from having 700,000 files in January 2015 to having 1.4 million.