VR Insights: Recent submissions
Now showing items 21-40 of 73
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Sri Lanka Losing Ground in Investment and Trade Freedoms
(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 ... -
Economic Reforms Cannot Ignore Sri Lanka’s Farmers
(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 ... -
Solving the dilemma of export diversification
(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’s Tourism: Competing with the region
(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 Competitiveness is Stagnating: Efficiency is the issue
(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 Tourism: What got us here, won’t get us there
(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 Economy is Growing, but Where are the Jobs?
(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. ... -
Policy Needed on Environment: REDD+ is a plus
(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 ... -
More of the Same: Budget 2016 increases protection and dependence on trade taxes
(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 ... -
Export Competitiveness: Moving from USA towards Asia
(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 ... -
Sri Lanka’s Trade Liberalisation: What you see is NOT what you get
(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 ... -
Reducing the Gap in Understanding Sri Lanka’s Gender Gap
(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 ... -
Education and Health in Budget 2016: Grand promises don’t bode well for governance
(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 ... -
Good Governance is Not Just for Politicians: Case for cigarette taxation=යහපාලනය දේශපාලකයන් සඳහා පමණක් නොවෙයි; දුම්වැටි බදුකරණයට නතු කිරීම
(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 ... -
‘Cess’ – End the Deception and Build ‘Street Lights’
(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 ... -
Economics of the broken window is applicable to corruption
(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 ... -
Strengthening Parliament Critical for Credible Budgets
(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 ... -
Is the Right to Information Good for Business?
(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 ... -
The post war growth bump has hit the ceiling
(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 ... -
The Economics of Media Freedom: is Sri Lanka on a virtuous or vicious cycle?
(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 ...