VR Insights (issues)
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This collection contains all issues of VR Insights.
Recent Submissions
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Retirement Funds Face Regressive Taxation in Sri Lanka
(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 ... -
Does Sri Lanka Need More Rules or Better Compliance?
(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. ... -
Any president can contest a third term – if 18A is valid
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-11)This INSIGHT discusses the eligibility of twice-elected Sri Lankan presidents to contest a third term. It demonstrates that the textual arguments claiming to disqualify such presidents are mistaken: first, because an ... -
De-mystifying Increase in Sri Lanka’s Debt
(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 ... -
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation: What drives the losses?
(Verité Research, 2021-09)Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is the state-owned enterprise in Sri Lanka with the largest accumulated losses – estimated at LKR 335 billion as of 2020. The analysis finds that the CPC sells fuel at prices higher ... -
Tourism Could Not Have Solved Sri Lanka’s Foreign Exchange Crisis
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2021-09)A key debate during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is whether the current dollar shortage is a short-term liquidity problem or a more protracted and systemic issue that requires debt reduction. This insight responds to the ... -
Cigarette Taxation Formula - The Cost of Forgetting
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2022-05)In 2019 the government took a step in the right direction by introducing an indexation policy where taxes on cigarettes was proposed to be adjusted in line with GDP and inflation. Previous insights show that the foregone ... -
Is Blocking Websites Making Sri Lankan Telecom Share Prices Vulnerable?
(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 ... -
TAs with India and China: Potential for Sri Lanka
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2014-04)Sri Lanka has various levels of trade agreements (TAs) with both India and China. A new TA with China was mooted in 2014 and the appetite for that continues in the new presidency and policy context of 2015. While statistics ... -
Improving Sri Lanka’s Business Environment: It’s not so difficult
(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 ... -
The Exporting Problem of SMEs: Finance is one solution
(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 ... -
The Budget Is Not Mainly About Money, It’s About Governance
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2015-10)Budgeting is a governance process that drives national plans, priorities and policy. While much of that is reflected in the content of the budget, important governance aspects are also reflected in the budgeting process. ... -
Cigarette Tax Indexation, Getting It Right and Getting It Wrong
(2019-08)The article tackles the cigarette tax indexation policy introduced with Sri Lanka’s 2019 Budget: where annual increases to the cigarette excise tax (a tax exclusive to cigarettes) will be based on inflation and income ... -
Flawed rationale behind EPF re-entering the stock market = කොටස් වෙළඳපොලට සේවක අර්ථසාධක අරමුදල (සේ.අ.අ.) නැවත ඇතුල්වීම පිටුපස ඇති සාවද්ය තර්කය
(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 ... -
Making Public Data Public: Sri Lanka Misses its Own Targets While India Races Ahead
(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 ... -
Justice in Slow Motion Corrodes Sri Lanka's Economy
(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 ... -
State Funding for Maternity Leave in Sri Lanka - A No-brainer
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2020-09)Women in the 20-39 age cohort are uniquely and severely disadvantaged in the labour market in Sri Lanka. This disadvantage is linked to the current policy of placing the full cost of maternity leave benefits (MLBs) on ... -
Quantifying the COVID Clean-up of Air Quality in Colombo
(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 ... -
Cigarette Taxation: 20 Billion Extra Revenue in 2020, if Indexation Is Implemented = දර්ශකයකට අනුව දුම්වැටි බදු අය කරන්නට කටයුතු කලොත්, 2020දී, රජයට රුපියල් බිලියන 20ක අමතර ආදායමක්
(Colombo: Verité Research, 2020-06-01)The government could raise an extra Rs. 20 Billion from cigarette taxation in 2020 from the proper implementation of the indexation policy articulated in the 2019 Budget and rational calibration of taxes for all cigarette ... -
Parliament and Cabinet Needs Reliable Economic Analysis
(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 ...
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