Publications Type

13% primary expenditure rule proposed for Sri Lanka departs from economic theory and practice

The 13% primary expenditure rule proposed in a new public finance bill is at odds with established economic theory. It will undermine “good” public spending that enhances growth, efficiency, and social welfare. It will also make Sri Lanka a global outlier, by setting a GDP based limit on primary expenditure, which is the lowest in the world.

Retirement Funds Face Regressive Taxation in Sri Lanka

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 receiving preferential tax treatment. This insight finds both empirical and analytical evidence to the contrary, and shows that retirement funds face adverse, not preferential tax treatment.

Does Sri Lanka Need More Rules or Better Compliance?

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. To be effective, any new law will need to contend with this problem of governance

Is it safe to breathe in Sri Lanka: the case for data

Exposure to poor air quality is ranked among the top 10 leading global risk factors for disease. The lack of visibility of air pollution often results in delay in public policy and personal responses, till the problem is acute. Improving the collection and access of air quality data is the first step, to making it safe to breathe in Sri Lanka.

Tourism Could Not Have Solved Sri Lanka’s Foreign Exchange Crisis

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 view that the dollar shortage is a short-term liquidity problem primarily caused by reduced tourism revenue since the onset of COVID-19. As this insight describes, there are three reasons to be skeptical of this argument.

දුම්වැටි බදු අයකිරීමේ සූත්‍රය අමතක වීමේ පිරිවැය

2019 දී රජය විසින් දුම්වැටිවල බදු සහ මිල නියම කිරීම, දර්ශකයකට අනුව සකසන ලද සුත්‍රයක් මත පදනම්ව සිදු කිරීමේ ප්‍රතිපත්තියන් හඳුන්වාදෙනු ලැබිණි. එම ප්‍රතිපත්තිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අමතක වීමේ පිරිවැය ඉහළ ය: 2020 සිට 2023 දක්වා කාලය තුළ රුපියල් බිලියන 85ක අහිමි වූ අත්හරින ලද ආදායම එහි ප්‍රතිඵලය වන අතර 2023 දී තවත් බිලියන 45ක් එනිසා අහිමි වනු ඇත.

Cigarette Taxation Formula – The Cost of Forgetting

In 2019 the government introduced a policy where taxes and prices on cigarettes would be based on an indexation formula. Forgetting to implement the policy is costly: it has resulted in a foregone revenue of 85 billion from 2020-2022 and will cost a further 45 billion in 2023.

De-mystifying the Increase in Sri Lanka’s Debt

This insight explains and navigates five sources of complications in calculating the increase in debt and the sources of debt increment in Sri Lanka over the years.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation: What Drives the Losses?

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.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කාබනික පොහොර වෙතට මාරු වීමට දැරූ ප්‍රයත්නය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව 2021 අප්‍රේල් මස සිට රසායනික පොහොර ආනයනය තහනම් කරමින්, කාබනික පොහොර වෙත මාරු වීමට පියවර ගන්නා ලදී. පවතින රසායනික පොහොර තොග අඩු වෙමින් පවතින වාතාවරණයක් තුල පොහොර ප්‍රතිපත්තිය පිළිබඳව ගොවීන්ගේ අදහස් සහ එහි බලපෑම අවබෝධකර ගැනීම සඳහා වෙරිටේ පර්යේෂණ ආයතනය ජූලි මාසයේදී සමීක්ෂණයක් පවත්වන ලදී. ගොවීන් මෙම ප්‍රතිපත්තියට පුළුල් ලෙස සහයෝගය දැක්වූ නමුත් ගොවීන්ගේ අදහස වුයේ මෙම පරිවර්තනය සාර්ථකව කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය දැනුම හා කාලය නොමැතිකම නිසා බොහෝ අඩු අස්වැන්නක් ලැබෙනු ඇති බවයි.