Browsing VR Insights by Title

Now showing items 29-48 of 73

    • 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 ...

    • Is the Right to Information Good for Business? 

      Verité Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-03)
      Prior to the enactment of the RTI Act in Sri Lanka in 2016, a debate had arisen on whether enacting a right to information (RTI) law could impede businesses. The main concern was that competitors could use the RTI process ...

    • Justice in Slow Motion Corrodes Sri Lanka's Economy 

      Verité Insights;
      Econ Team       (2013-07)
      The Insight discusses three aspects regarding the inherent lengthy delays in the Sri Lankan court system. First, delays in dispute resolution are costly—and not merely in legal fees, but in investments and initiatives ...

    • Making Public Data Public: Sri Lanka Misses its Own Targets While India Races Ahead 

      Verité Insights;Vol. 09, No. 04
      Razick, Salma; Munas, Hasna; de Mel, Nishan       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2021-07)
      The Department of Census and Statistics aims to be the ‘leader in the region’ in producing and providing timely statistical information. However, this insight shows, it has failed in providing public access to data in three ...

    • More of the Same: Budget 2016 increases protection and dependence on trade taxes 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-12-08)
      Sri Lanka was amongst the early movers in trade and economic liberalisation in South Asia. However, this initiative was somewhat backtracked upon in the past 10 years. This insight points out that, despite the claims, the ...

    • The new Ministers of Finance: Will their budget keep its promises? 

      VR Insight;August 2017
      Abeysinghe, Subhashini       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2017-08)
      An analysis of past budgets revel large deviations between budgeted allocations and actual expenditure. This shows that expectations set by the government during the budget speech are not honoured. This Insight analyses ...

    • Parliament and Cabinet Needs Reliable Economic Analysis 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-06-10)
      A regular feature of Sri Lanka’s public debates and writing on economic issues is that they are infused with factual inaccuracies or claims that are quite misleading. This reflects poor political and public understanding ...

    • Parliament should have a formula for regulating cigarettes 

      VR Insights;Vol. 2, No. 11
      Fernando, Nilangika       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-06)
      Variations in the tobacco excise tax affects Rs. 10s of billions in government revenue. Taxation and pricing have been inconsistent. This insight explains how the lack of a consistent method allows wide discretion to ...

    • Policy Needed on Environment: REDD+ is a plus 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-03-14)
      The prime minister of Sri Lanka made a policy statement on 5th November 2013 to indicate the future priorities of the new government. It had over 70 inspirational statements indicating a wide array of issues and subjects ...

    • The post war growth bump has hit the ceiling 

      Verité Insights;
      Econ Team       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2013-08)
      This article explores the question of whether Sri Lanka could expect higher sustained GDP growth post-war and concludes that the post-war bump-up is over for the time being. It suggests that the high growth is unsustainable ...

    • Quantifying the COVID Clean-up of Air Quality in Colombo 

      Verité Insights;
      Dhammapala, Ranil; Basnayake, Ashani       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2021-09-06)
      This Insight quantifies the improvements in air quality in Colombo during periods of Covid19 related restrictions and reveals that the Covid19 restrictions have led to a 60% reduction in the average duration of time that ...

    • Reducing the Gap in Understanding Sri Lanka’s Gender Gap 

      Verité Insights;Vol. 09, No. 01
      Fernando, Sachintha       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2021-03)
      The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) is a composite index that measures the extent of gender-based gaps in and among countries and tracks progress towards reducing these gaps over time. Sri Lanka is ...

    • Retirement Funds Face Regressive Taxation in Sri Lanka 

      Verite Insights;Vol. 12, No.02
      Rajkulendran, Raj Prabu       (Colombo: Verite Research, 2023-09)
      In September 2023, Sri Lanka became the only country to restructure local currency debt by exclusively targeting retirement savings funds, excluding all others. This was justified by claiming that retirement savings were ...

    • Reviving Exports: The Relevance of Export Finance=අපනයන ප්‍රවර්ධනය සදහා අපනයන මූල්‍යකරණ පහසුකම්වල ඇති වැදගත්කම 

      VR Insights;Vol. 3, No. 16
      Fernando, Nilangika; Gnanasampanthen, Revathy       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-09)
      This Insight analyses the importance of export finance as a tool to facilitate and promote exports in Sri Lanka. It identifies the bottlenecks that prevent effective use of export finance in the country and provides ...

    • Solving the dilemma of export diversification 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-03-19)
      Sri Lanka’s exports are flagging in two ways: first, the exports to GDP ratio is on the decline; second, Sri Lanka’s share in world exports is on the decline. The second is important in understanding the problem: it tells ...

    • Sri Lanka Losing Ground in Investment and Trade Freedoms 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-09-29)
      This Insight shows two worrying trends in the Trade and Investment Freedoms of Sri Lanka, using the 2015 Index of Global Economic Freedom to derive the analysis. First is that although the country’s Investment and Trade ...

    • Sri Lanka Tourism: What got us here, won’t get us there 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-04-23)
      Sri Lanka has doubled its tourist arrivals since 2010, which is credited to the peaceful environment in the country following the ending of the war together with the ongoing strategic investments in the tourism sector, new ...

    • The Sri Lankan economy needs a better bureaucracy, not just a better Cabinet of Ministers 

      Insights;Vol. 4, No. 01
      Munas, Hasna       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2017-05)
      There are several causes to the problems facing Sri Lanka’s economy. The problem of bureaucratic inefficiency is exemplified by this case study: finding information about trade regulations is a significant barrier to ...