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Now showing items 1424-1443 of 2613

    • Sri Lanka’s Competitiveness is Stagnating: Efficiency is the issue 

      Verité Insights; October 2015
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-10-13)
      The 2015 Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) of the World Economic Forum shows that Sri Lanka is ranked 68 out of 140 countries. Compared to last year, Sri Lanka has improved its ranking by five places. This article provides ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Economic Competitiveness: A Microcosm of its Politics? 

      Insight; Vol.5, No. 01
      Fernando, Sachintha       (2018-03)
      The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), ranks the competitiveness of economies. The GCI score is calculated using two types of indicators: objective (or measurable) indicators and sentiment (or subjective) indicators. ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Export Problem: Not Concentration, But Composition 

      Abeysinghe, Subhashini; Munas, Hasna (Colombo: Verité Research, 2017-08)
      Sri Lanka's exports are heavily concentrated in a few markets and a few products. The government's recognition of export diversification as an important policy strategy to revive exports indicates that both market and ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Fitch Credit Rating Has Been Downgraded 7 Times During the Last 7 years (May 2015 – May 2022) 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (2022-05)
      Sri Lanka’s credit rating has been downgraded 7 times over the course of 7 years. 5 of those downgrades occurred since April 2020. In contrast, its regional peers have maintained their credit ratings. The recent downgrade ...

    • Sri Lanka’s government education expenditure is the world’s third lowest 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2024-10)
      In 2022, Sri Lanka’s government, both provincial and central, allocated only 1.5 percent of GDP on all levels (including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels). This placed Sri Lanka as the third-lowest country in the ...

    • Sri Lanka’s IMF Programme Was Supposed To Succeed by Improving Governance. Will It? 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (2024-06)
      On June 12, the IMF board will sign off on Sri Lanka’s third disbursement under the current programme. But Sri Lanka is still failing on the governance improvements that are foundational for its economic recovery. According ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Imports Were 4% Higher in 2021 When Compared to 2019 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2022-03-03)
      Sri Lanka’s Imports have grown by 4%, (USD 700 Million) from 2019 to 2021. One of the main contributors for this growth is the increase in the Medical and Pharmaceuticals imports by 60% which amounts to USD 330 Million. ...

    • Sri Lanka’s international borrowing costs are not declining 

      VR Insights;Vol. 2, No. 19
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-11)
      The government first raised international debt through bonds in October 2007. Since then several international bonds have been issued to feed the government’s twin demands: financing its spending and propping up foreign ...

    • Sri Lanka’s new personal income tax structure reduces tax burden across income groups 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2024-12-20)
      In his recent address to Parliament, the President announced proposed reforms to Sri Lanka’s Personal Income Tax (PIT) system. These changes include raising the tax-free monthly income threshold from LKR 100,000 to LKR ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Personal Income Taxpayer Base Lags Behind South Asian Peers Despite Recovery 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2025-08-15)
      The number of people registered for personal income tax (taxpayer base) in Sri Lanka recovered in 2024 to the high levels seen in 2019. However, despite this rebound, Sri Lanka still lags behind its regional peers. In ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Port City Economic Commission Act: A Social-Legal Insight 

      ISAS Working Paper;No. 346, July 2021
      Panchali, R.A. Piyumani; Gunawardana, Agana       (Singapore: Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, 2021-07-16)
      The Port City in Colombo is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project launched in 2014 as a joint venture between the project company, CHEC Port City Colombo Pvt Ltd, and the Sri Lankan government. The law governing the Port ...

    • Sri Lanka’s post war growth: Still stuck in an unsustainable strategy 

      VR Insights; Vol. 4, No. 01
      Munas, Hasna       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2016-01)
      Sri Lanka has been driving post-war growth in boom and bust cycles on the trade deficit; and fiscal measures have been used, especially spending on construction, to offset the bust cycles. This insight explains how this ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Revenue to GDP Ratio Reaches Its Lowest Level Since 1959 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (2022-06)
      Data on Sri Lanka’s revenue to GDP ratio is available from 1959 onwards. The average tax to GDP ratio from 1959 to 2021 is 16%. In 2021 the tax to GDP ratio dropped to 8%, which the lowest ratio since 1959 and is half ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Short-Term Outflows Exceed Usable Reserves 

      Public Finance Infographics;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2022-02-15)
      Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves have been consistently declining since June 2019 and as of January 2022, usable foreign exchange reserves stand at USD 792 Mn, while the twelve-month outflows at end of 2021 stand at USD ...

    • Sri Lanka’s tea industry – too long in adolescence, it’s time to grow up 

      VR Insights; February 2016
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2016-02-26)
      Tea sector wage negotiations periodically go into deadlock. There are political reasons for this situation, but also an overarching economic one: global tea prices have declined – as it periodically happens – and the ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Tourism: Competing with the region 

      Verité Insights; May 2015
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-05-20)
      This Insight looks at a different dimension of the problem of growing tourism in Sri Lanka using the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) to derive the analysis. This global index assesses ...

    • Sri Lanka’s Trade Liberalisation: What you see is NOT what you get 

      Verité Insights; January 2014
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-01-08)
      Sri Lanka’s 2014 Budget claims a continuous commitment by the government to maintain a liberal, consistent and simple trade regime. The budget speech puts it this way: “A four band tariff structure presently in place is ...

    • State Funding for Maternity Leave in Sri Lanka - A No-brainer 

      Verité Insights; Vol. 8, No. 1
      Sumanthiran, Shiloh       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2020-09)
      Women in the 20-39 age cohort are uniquely and severely disadvantaged in the labour market in Sri Lanka. This disadvantage is linked to the current policy of placing the full cost of maternity leave benefits (MLBs) on ...

    • State of emergency: Voting breakdown – 27 July 2022 

      Parliamentary Research Team (Manthri.lk, 2022-08-02)
      These set of infographics show how the MPs vote for the vote on state of emergency imposed by the newly appointed President Ranil Wickremesinghe. 120 votes received in favour and 63 votes received against. 42 were absent ...

    • State of the Budget 2026 

      State of the Budget Report; No. 05
      Economics Team, Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2026-01)
      This 5th edition of the State of the Budget by Verité Research provides an independent analysis of the National Budget for 2026 presented to the Parliament of Sri Lanka on 7 November 2025. It evaluates the budget’s financial, ...