Browsing VR Insights by Author "Verité Research"

Now showing items 1-17 of 17

    • ‘Cess’ – End the Deception and Build ‘Street Lights’ 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2013-11-27)
      In Sri Lanka, ‘Cess’ is the name given to a special tax imposed on sales, where the revenue is earmarked for a specific fund with a particular economic purpose. This article discusses how the government has stymied export ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

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

      Verité Insights;
      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 Tourism: Competing with the region 

      Verité Insights;
      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;
      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 ...

    • Strengthening Parliament Critical for Credible Budgets 

      Verité Insights;
      Verité Research       (Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-12)
      Sri Lanka’s budgets show considerable variation between publicly declared budget allocations and actual expenditure on line items. This gap can create a credibility problem. There is a specific section in Sri Lankan laws ...