Browsing VR Insights by Title

Now showing items 12-31 of 73

    • De-mystifying Increase in Sri Lanka’s Debt 

      Verite Insights;Vol 10, No 01.
      Arangala, Mathisha; Musammil, Miflal; Rajakulendran, Raj Prabu       (Verité Research, 2022-02)
      In the last 70 years, Sri Lanka has never been in a more precarious position with regard to the repayment of its debt, than at present, in December 2021. There is much that is said in the media about the increase in Sri ...

    • Does Sri Lanka Need More Rules or Better Compliance? 

      Verite Insights;Vol. 04, No.01
      Rajkulendran, Raj Prabu       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2023-02)
      The government of Sri Lanka proposed introducing a new law to establish stronger rules on public finance management. The analysis shows that the core weakness in Sri Lanka is not the lack of rules but the lack of compliance. ...

    • Economic mismanagement is a governance problem – it needs governance solutions 

      VR Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2016-05-11)
      Elected officials and selected bureaucrats are given a huge amount of power to act on behalf of the public – modern democracies function on this basis: that citizens hand over their power to elected representatives. But ...

    • Economic Reforms Cannot Ignore Sri Lanka’s Farmers 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-06-24)
      Historically and culturally Sri Lankan society idealises its farmer. Advertisements even for the recent 2015 presidential elections were replete with images of farms and farming communities. But economic policies and reforms ...

    • The Economics of Media Freedom: is Sri Lanka on a virtuous or vicious cycle? 

      Verité Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2013-10)
      This article explains the economic importance of media freedom by considering three reasons: i) indicative reasons; ii) instrumental reasons; and iii) integral reasons. Media freedom is indicatively important because it ...

    • Economics of the broken window is applicable to corruption 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-03-04)
      The Sirisena presidency and the UNP that championed it have been endorsed by the ballot with the hope that they will take action against the rampant corruption that was felt to be hurting the public welfare under the ...

    • The Economy is Growing, but Where are the Jobs? 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2013-06-26)
      The Sri Lankan economy is reported to have grown by 6.4 percent in 2012. This was less than what was hoped, but still a robust level of growth. In 2010 and 2011 growth was an extremely healthy 8 percent and 8.2 percent. ...

    • Education and Health in Budget 2016: Grand promises don’t bode well for governance 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-11-24)
      Governments make attractive promises when presenting the Budget. However, successive Budgets have shown that making promises is easier than keeping them. The extent to which the present government will be able to keep its ...

    • Exchange rate management: politics trumps professionalism 

      VR Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2016-01-26)
      Most people in a country don’t understand the intricacies of exchange rate management. Nevertheless, actions in this regard have significant implications for the economic stability, growth and overall success of the economy, ...

    • Explaining the Mirage of GDP Growth Optimism 

      VR Insights;Vol. 2, No. 14
      Abeysinghe, Subhashini       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-08)
      The government estimates that by 2015 per capita GDP will quadruple from what it was in 2004. But this is a mirage: real incomes will not even double in that period. The mirage is created by counting in US dollars and ...

    • Export Competitiveness: Moving from USA towards Asia 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-05-06)
      Over 50 percent of Sri Lanka’s exports go to the USA and the West. While Sri Lanka’s total exports remain tilted towards the USA and the West, growth is tilting to the East, and more towards Asia. The consequence of the ...

    • The Exporting Problem of SMEs: Finance is one solution 

      Verité Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-09)
      Since the turn of the century, not only have Sri Lankan exports declined as a share of its GDP, but also in terms of its global share. Sri Lanka had a larger global share of exports at Independence, than at present. There ...

    • Exports to India – Putting the free back into the FTA 

      VR Insights;Vol. 3, No. 14
      Munas, Hasna; Nathaniel, Vidya       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-07)
      Sri Lanka’s history with bi-lateral trade agreements demonstrates the need for more careful negotiation. This Insight explains how the tariff benefits of the India Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) have been outweighed ...

    • Fixing NTBs between India and Sri Lanka 

      VR Insights;Vol. 3, No. 15
      Nathaniel, Vidya; Munas, Hasna       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-08)
      The Insight examines the issue of non-tarrif barriers (NTBs) faced by exporters of processed foods from Sri Lanka to India, in the context of ensuring compliance with standards and regulations. It concludes with proposing ...

    • Fixing Sri Lanka’s Revenue Problem is a Priority 

      VR Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2017-02-10)
      Taxes are the key source of government revenue. Normally, tax share as a percentage of GDP is expected to increase as per capita GDP rises. This Insight shows that in Sri Lanka, this is not the case; the country’s per ...

    • Flawed rationale behind EPF re-entering the stock market = කොටස් වෙළඳපොලට සේවක අර්ථසාධක අරමුදල (සේ.අ.අ.) නැවත ඇතුල්වීම පිටුපස ඇති සාවද්‍ය තර්කය 

      Verité Insights;Vol 7, No. 1
      Kapilan, Anushan       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2019)
      At the end of 2018, the EPF resolved to re-enter the stock market despite substantial losses and allegations of mismanagement on EPF’s equity investments in the past. The EPF provides two reasons for the decision: (i) that ...

    • Good Governance is Not Just for Politicians: Case for cigarette taxation=යහපාලනය දේශපාලකයන් සඳහා පමණක් නොවෙයි; දුම්වැටි බදුකරණයට නතු කිරීම 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-04-22)
      The Excise taxes on products such as cigarettes and alcohol are a significant source of government revenue. Understanding how these taxes should be adjusted in keeping with price increases and being diligent in implementing ...

    • The Hidden Side of Cigarette Pricing 

      Verité Insights;Vol. 05; No. 02
      Fernando, Nilangika; Munas, Hasna       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2018-07)
      This insight examines how analysis of past tax and price data reveals two aspects of cigarette pricing that are hidden from media reporting. First, net-of-tax price grew at a faster rate than the tax per cigarette; second, ...

    • Improving Sri Lanka’s Business Environment: It’s not so difficult 

      Verité Insights;
      Econ Team       (2014-11)
      In his budget speech, Finance Minister, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka “aims at gaining a ranking among the top 10 countries in Asia Pacific in the Doing Business Index (DBI).” This Insight finds constructive ...

    • Is Blocking Websites Making Sri Lankan Telecom Share Prices Vulnerable? 

      Verité Insights;Vol 2, No. 12
      Corea, Viran; Knight, Malathy       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-07)
      If Sri Lankan Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are blocking news websites without due diligence, then their present and future share values are vulnerable. This Insight explains what ISPs should do to ensure minimum due ...