Sri Lanka Losing Ground in Investment and Trade Freedoms

Abstract

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 Freedom have picked up post-war, the improvements have been short-lived. Second is that the country performance in Trade Freedom was better than the world average in 2005 and on par with the average in Investment Freedom. By 2015, the country is faring worse in terms of investment and trade freedom than it did in 2005 and its performance is below the world average. Although Sri Lanka aspires to become an upper middle-income country by 2016, it fares poorly in terms of Trade and Investment Freedoms when compared to upper middle-income economies in the Asia-Pacific Region.