Publications

Financing Infrastructure: The (non) Concessionality of Concessional Loans

Sri Lanka is highly dependent on international loans from multilateral and bilateral sources to finance infrastructure development. Multilateral and bilateral borrowing is often favoured by governments such as Sri Lanka because such financing tends to have ‘concessional’ elements, relative to the international financial markets. However, this report finds that the practice of ‘tying’ loans to procurement from contractors in the lending country and resulting cost escalations can significantly erode the concessional or grant element of these loans.

State Funding for Maternity Leave in Sri Lanka – A No-Brainer

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 employers.

CSO Sustainability Index 2019 : Sri Lanka Country Report

The Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI) assesses the sustainability of the CSO sector across several countries in different regions around the world. Since its inception in 1997, it has expanded from covering 18 countries in the Europe and Eurasia Region, to covering a total of 73 countries in 2019, in regions including the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia

A Rational Method for Cabinet Formation in Sri Lanka: A White Paper

Ministries are the overarching bodies that house relevant government institutions and functions within a particular subject area. They are responsible for the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of national-level policies and strategies in their assigned sectors (such as health, education, and agriculture). In this regard, they coordinate with the institutions under their purview. Therefore, ministries—and by extension ministers—are vital to determining the institutional effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery by the public sector. However, public sentiment suggests otherwise. Public sector inefficiency has been a long-standing issue that successive governments in Sri Lanka have failed to address effectively. The general perception of the public is that the elected representatives who run government make an already inefficient system worse, and this perception is becoming more entrenched with time. The present paper seeks to address this gap between expectations of the role of ministers and ministries and reality as experienced and perceived by society. It highlights two types of problems that comprise the irrationality of present cabinet formation and seeks to address how effective and efficient governance in the public sector can be achieved. A Blueprint document that proposes a formulated rational structure for government, building on and refining the recommendations of the…

Inaction and Impunity: Incidents of Religious Violence Targeting Christians, Muslims and Hindus (2015-2019)

Ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka is a chronic and systemic problem that has continued despite successive changes in government. This study examines the key trends of incidents of violence faced by minority Christian, Muslim and Hindu groups in Sri Lanka between 2015 and 2019

වැඩක් කළ හැකි කැබිනට්ටුවක්: ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ අමාත්‍යංශ

රජයේ කි‍්‍රයාකාරීත්වය ඵලදායී සහ කාර්යක්ෂම මට්ටමක පවතින බව සහතික කිරීම සදහා කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය ලබාදෙන දායකත්වය සුලූපටු නැත. නමුත් අප සිදුකළ පර්යේෂණයකින් අනාවරණය වූ ආකාරයට පසුගිය වසර කිහිපයේ මෙරට ඇති කෙරුණු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලවලින් එවැනි දායකත්වයක් ලැබී නොමැත.

A Cabinet that Works: Ministries in Sri Lanka

The role played by the Cabinet of Ministers is critical to ensure that the government functions efficiently and effectively. Verité Research has found that the way in which Cabinet portfolios are designed in Sri Lanka impedes the ability of government to be effective.

Opening up Trade Data: The Benefits to Sri Lanka

International trade data are the foundational basis when formulating trade policies and assessing their impacts. Trade data is vital for firms engaging in international trade to make sound business decisions. Unfortunately, when compared to regional and international best practice, Sri Lanka is failing to use trade data effectively for the benefit of the country.

වැඩකරන රටකට – වැඩක් කළ හැකි කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයක්

ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ රජයේ ඵලදායීතාවය සහ කාර්යක්ෂමතාවයට බෙහෙවින් බලපාන කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ අමාත්‍යංශ ඇති කෙරෙන ආකාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කළ පර්යේෂණයක තොරතුරු පසුගියදා ජනගත කරන ලදී.

VR Working Paper: Ineffectiveness of Social Contacts and Alternate Job Search Methods for Unemployed Youth in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan youth due to an extended period of unemployment face a lower possibility in future employment and a reduced earning capacity. As a solution, this paper aims to identify an efficient search method. Emphasis is placed on social contacts, given its popularity as a search method. Social contacts prove inefficient- leading to a 10.0% reduction in unemployment duration with a wage discount of 7.1%. Also, social contacts create a form of stickiness that increases dependency on social contacts and a reluctance to choose other, more efficient search methods in the future. The popularity, inefficiency and stickiness of social contacts are speculated as the probable cause for a large pool of youth to be unemployed over an extended period. As an alternative to social contacts, internet job search proves to be a more efficient search method reducing unemployment duration by 21.6% with a wage premium of 14.3%.