Publications Type

Benefits of Adopting Measures to Facilitate Trade: A Case Study on Forest Permits for Exporting Horticultural Products

Governments often mandate that traders secure permits before importing or exporting certain products to fulfill objectives such as protecting endangered species, endemic flora, and ensuring consumer safety. The time, cost, and unpredictability associated with obtaining these permits impact the competitiveness of businesses engaged in international trade. This research brief outlines steps to overcome various obstacles that hinder the streamlining, simplification, and automation of these processes to make them more business friendly. Using the issuance of forest permits for horticultural exports as a case study, it shows how adopting steps to facilitate trade can reduce trade costs and strengthen regulatory oversight.

Proposal for a Governance-Linked Bond in Restructuring Sri Lanka’s Debt

To address the governance risk to debt sustainability and provide incentives for the Government of Sri Lanka to implement governance reforms, this proposal sets out the structure of a novel sovereign debt instrument that can be used for countries with significant country risk in terms of future default, where the risk is likely to be correlated with the trajectory of governance. It is termed a “Governance-Linked Sovereign Bond” (GLSB). This short proposal is derived from a working paper by Verité Research that sets out the technical basis for the GLSB described here.

Backwards in Blacklisting: Gaps in Sri Lanka’s Procurement Framework Enable Corruption

The research brief titled “Backwards in Blacklisting: Gaps in Sri Lanka’s Procurement Framework Enable Corruption” by Verité Research, published in November 2023, critically evaluates Sri Lanka’s public procurement system. It highlights two significant gaps: the legal gap, where procurement guidelines don’t allow for blacklisting contractors/suppliers involved in fraud and corruption, and the compliance gap, shown by the failure to maintain a blacklist for defaulting contractors. The brief compares Sri Lanka’s approach unfavourably with other South Asian countries, noting these countries’ more effective implementation of blacklisting and their maintenance of updated online databases of blacklisted firms. The study emphasizes the need for Sri Lanka to implement robust blacklisting provisions and maintain a comprehensive online list of blacklisted companies to deter corruption and ensure efficient use of public funds.

Tamil Executive Summary: Online Proactive Disclosure under the RTI Act in Sri Lanka

Verité Research developed the methodology for this assessment in 2017 with the support of the World Bank and assessed the compliance of 55 public authorities with their online proactive disclosure requirements under the RTI Act. The same methodology was adopted in relation to the 29 cabinet ministries and the Offices of the President and Prime Minister as of July 2022, for the period 01 December 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Sinhala Executive Summary : Online Proactive Disclosure under the RTI Act in Sri Lanka

Verité Research developed the methodology for this assessment in 2017 with the support of the World Bank and assessed the compliance of 55 public authorities with their online proactive disclosure requirements under the RTI Act. The same methodology was adopted in relation to the 29 cabinet ministries and the Offices of the President and Prime Minister as of July 2022, for the period 01 December 2022 to 31 December 2022.

English Executive Summary : Online Proactive Disclosure under the RTI Act in Sri Lanka

Verité Research developed the methodology for this assessment in 2017 with the support of the World Bank and assessed the compliance of 55 public authorities with their online proactive disclosure requirements under the RTI Act. The same methodology was adopted in relation to the 29 cabinet ministries and the Offices of the President and Prime Minister as of July 2022, for the period 01 December 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Foregoing Competition to Secure Funding for Public Infrastructure

In 2010, Sri Lanka established a unique framework, overseen by the Standing Cabinet Appointed Review Committee (SCARC), to handle unsolicited proposals (USPs) for public infrastructure funding. These USPs inherently bypass traditional competitive bidding in procurement. The report, ‘Foregoing Competition to Secure Funding for Public Infrastructure: One-Third of Funding Secured was Non-Concessional’, scrutinizes this framework. It reveals a significant discrepancy between the framework’s intended purpose of improving USP evaluation and the actual outcomes, with a substantial portion of the funding secured through SCARC being non-concessional in nature. The report identifies two vulnerabilities in the existing procurement framework that need urgent attention: the Cabinet’s unchecked power to modify procurement guidelines, and SCARC’s ability to approve projects non-compliant with even the minimum criteria outlined without repercussions.

இலங்கையில் சமத்துவமாக தடுப்பூசி வழங்குதல் சார்ந்த பல்வேறுபட்ட தாக்கங்கள்: மார்ச் 2022

கோவிட்-19 தடுப்பூசியைப் பெற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்களை அணுகுதல் மற்றும் தடுப்பூசி மீதான நம்பிக்கை தொடர்பாக உலகெங்கிலும் உள்ள பல்வேறு இனக் குழுக்களுக்கிடையே நிலவும் ஏற்றத் தாழ்வுகளை கோவிட்-19 வெளிச்சித்திற்குக் கொண்டு வந்துள்ளது. பின்னணியாகச் செயற்படும் இக் காரணிகளுக்கு எதிராக வெரிட்டே நிறுவனத்தின் ஊடகத் குழுவினால்; கோவிட்-19 தடுப்பூசி மீதான நம்பிக்கை, கோவிட-19; தடுப்பூசிக்கு உள்ள வரவேற்பு, தடுப்பூசியைப் பெற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்களை அணுகுதல் என்னும் விடயங்களில் இலங்கையில் சிங்கள, தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் இனக் குழுக்களைச் சேர்ந்தவர்கள் மீது ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ள தாக்கம் குறித்து இரண்டு பகுதிகளாக ஓர் ஆய்வை நடாத்தி உள்ளது.

එන්නත්කරණ සමානාත්මතාවය කෙරෙහි වාර්ගික විවිධත්වයේ බලපෑම: 2022 මාර්තු

එන්නත් වෙත ඇති ප්‍රවේශය මෙන්ම එන්නත් කෙරෙහි ඇති විශ්වාසය සැලකීමේදී ලෝකයේ විවිධ ජන වර්ග අතර එම කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් අසමානතා දක්නට ලැබෙන අතර, කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගතය හේතුවෙන් මෙම අසමානතා වඩාත් ඉස්මතු වී තිබේ. මෙම පසුබිම තුළ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ කොවිඩ්-19 එන්නත කෙරෙහි පවතින විශ්වාසය, එන්නත ලබා ගැනීම සහ එන්නත වෙත ඇති ප්‍රවේශය යන කරුණු මත වාර්ගිකත්වය බලපාන අයුරු පෙන්වා දෙන, කොටස් දෙකකින් සමන්විත අධ්‍යයනයක් වෙරිටේ මීඩියා විසින් සිදු කරන ලදි.

Diversity Impact on Vaccine Equity (DIVE) in Sri Lanka: March 2022

Covid-19 has shed light on ongoing disparities in vaccine access and confidence among different ethnic groups worldwide. Against this backdrop, Verité Media conducted a two-part study on the impact of ethnicity on Covid-19 vaccine confidence, uptake and access among the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted together with Minority Rights Group International as part of the Diversity Impact on Vaccine Equity (DIVE) programme 2021 – 2022. This report is the second and final part of the two-part study.