Browsing Econ by Author "de Mel, Nishan"

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    • The Alternatives to Universal Tax Registration in Sri Lanka 

      Background Note;No.04
      de Mel, Nishan; Moore, Mick       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2023-02)
      This note argues that the Sri Lankan government’s recent proposal to implement universal tax registration is neither a viable nor effective strategy to increase the country’s tax revenue. Instead, the note proposes four ...

    • Cigarette Tax Indexation in Budget 2019 

      de Mel, Nishan; Guruge, Aneesha (Colombo: Verité Research, 2019-07-17)
      The presentation discusses the cigarette tax indexation that was implemented by Sri Lanka’s Budget for 2019 (released in March). This indexation solved 2 problems of cigarette tax revisions in Sri Lanka—they were both too ...

    • Costs of Doing a Job For Urban Women In Sri Lanka 

      Abeysinghe, Subhashini; de Mel, Nishan; Siyambalapitiya, Sumini; Perera, Mihindu (Colombo: Verite Research, 2022-05)
      This report addressed a knowledge gap by conducting quantitative surveys and FGDs to estimate monetary & non-monetary “costs of doing a job” for women in Sri Lanka, to understand if it is cost prohibitive to engage in work ...

    • The Debt Digest - March 2023 

      de Mel, Nishan; Peiris, Udara (Colombo: Daily Mirror, 2023-03-16)
      The Debt Digest by Verité Research provides analytical commentary on the latest developments in Sri Lanka’s debt crisis. A key milestone in Sri Lanka’s path to recovery was the staff-level agreement with the IMF in September ...

    • Education Inequality and Affirmative Action: Towards a Better Estimation (Working Paper) 

      de Mel, Nishan; Kumarage, Aloka (Colombo: Verité Research, 2013-09)
      The education sector had witnessed an overall decline in terms of budgetary allocations, and was also subject to inequality in distribution of educational opportunities within the country. Education inequality has implications ...

    • Financing Infrastructure: The (Non) Concessionality of Concessional Loans 

      de Mel, Nishan; Abeysinghe, Subhashini; Arangala, Mathisha (2020-06)
      Sri Lanka is highly dependent on international loans from multilateral and bilateral sources to finance infrastructure development. Multilateral and bilateral borrowing is often favoured by governments such as Sri Lanka ...

    • Financing Infrastructure: The (non) concessionality of concessional loans (Presentation) 

      de Mel, Nishan (2020-09-10)
      Multilateral and bilateral borrowing is often favoured by governments such as Sri Lanka because such financing tends to have ‘concessional’ elements, relative to the international financial markets. However, the cost ...

    • For Sri Lanka, a Governance-Linked Bond Might Just Be the Ticket 

      de Mel, Nishan (Colombo: Daily Mirror, 2023-12-21)
      It is a truth universally acknowledged that if Sri Lanka under-performs on its governance corrections, it will underperform on its economic recovery also (with apologies to Jane Austen), the first provides the foundation ...

    • Impact of COVID-19 Response on Unemployment in Sri Lanka 

      Asia's Path Forward;
      de Mel, Nishan; Perera, Mihindu       (Washington: Center for International Private Enterprise, 2020-10-01)
      Goal number eight of the Sustainable Development Goals is set out as “Decent work and economic growth.” This goal recognizes that economic growth is not just an end, but also a means in itself of generating jobs – productive ...

    • Impact of FOREX Crisis and Solutions for the National Economy 

      Rajkulendran, Raj Prabu; de Mel, Nishan (Verité Research, 2022-01)
      This presentation assesses the reasons for the current unprecedented crisis and the how the current crisis differs from the previous crisis Sri Lanka has been in. This presentation also assesses, the solutions for the ...

    • Is Sri Lanka Addicted to Missing Revenue Targets? 

      de Mel, Nishan (Colombo: Daily Mirror, 2023-10-30)
      It is all too familiar that Sri Lanka has a problem in meeting its budgeted revenue targets. Recently, a government member of parliament (MP) who voted in favour of the budget last year, said that the tax increases that ...

    • Navigating Sri Lanka's Debt: Better reporting can help – a case study on China debt = ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ණය කළමනාකරණයට නිවැරදි වාර්තාකරණයේ වැදගත්කම – චීන ණය පිළිබඳ සිද්ධි අධ්‍යයනයක් 

      Briefing Note;February 2021
      de Mel, Nishan; Abeysinghe, Subhashini; Arangala, Mathisha       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2021-02)
      The published information on debt underestimates Sri Lanka’s overall external public debt burden and its distribution amongst external lenders. This problem arises because Sri Lanka’s reporting of external debt is limited ...

    • Power Cuts in Sri Lanka 2012: A Critical Review 

      Research Bulletin; Vol. 02, No. 03
      de Mel, Nishan; Nathaniel, Vidya       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2012-08)
      This report analyses the explanations provided by the government in announcements regarding scheduled power cuts in 2012. The standard explanations for power cuts were: (i) Unexpectedly high growth in demand; (ii) Shortage ...

    • Restoring Efficient Tax Collection Methods: Withholding Tax and Pay-As-You-Earn 

      Background Note;No. 01
      Gunewardena, Dileni; de Mel, Nishan; Moore, Mick; Devarajan, Shanta; Rajkulendran, Raj Prabu; Siyambalapitiya, Sumini       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2022-06)
      The note estimates the additional revenue that can be collected from reinstating in Sri Lanka two methods of efficient tax collection that were discontinued in 2020. That is: the withholding tax (WHT) and the pay-as-you-earn ...

    • Reviewing the Data Dissemination Practices of Sri Lanka’s Department of Census and Statistics 

      Razick, Salma; Munas, Hasna; de Mel, Nishan (2021-02)
      In 2014, a data dissemination policy was introduced by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) in Sri Lanka. The DCS is the primary agency responsible for the collection, compilation and dissemination of official ...

    • Special Report – Budget 2012 

      de Mel, Nishan (Colombo: Verité Research, 2011-12-30)
      The report summarises Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic environment, analysing the 2012 budget and providing a comparative study of government expenditure. It finds that the focus of government expenditure has shifted from funding ...

    • Sri Lanka Budget 2013: Increasing Assistance, and Vulnerability 

      Economic series; December 2012
      de Mel, Nishan; Ratnayake, Jayani; Nathaniel, Vidya       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2012-12)
      This report presents an analysis of the contradictory nature of the Budget 2013 through increased assistance to the poor, while at the same time increasing their vulnerability. The analysis of Budget 2013, rather than ...

    • "Sugar Scam” is Not the Whole Iceberg: “Forestalling” Needs a Rule-of-Law Solution 

      de Mel, Nishan (Colombo: Daily Mirror, 2023-11-09)
      On 14 October 2020, taxes on imported sugar were slashed overnight from LKR 50 to LKR 25 cents per kilogram. That is a reduction of 99.5%. This led to much discussion in media and parliament about the large undue profits ...

    • A Technical Case for Affordability-Based Pricing of Cigarettes 

      Verité Research Working Paper;September 2014/01
      de Mel, Nishan; Fernando, Nilangika       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-09)
      By 2014, tax revenue from cigarettes accounted for over 4.9% of total government revenue. However, thus far, Sri Lanka’s tax adjustments have been ad hoc, and driven by political and bureaucratic discretion rather than a ...

    • Verite Research Debt Update - February 2023 

      Debt Update;Issue 01
      de Mel, Nishan; Peiris, Udara       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2023-02)
      This issue provides coverage and analysis on the financial assurance letters issued by China, India, The Paris Club and a group of private bond holders to the IMF on their commitment to support Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring ...