Publications

Trade in Services: Sri Lanka needs to pull up its socks

Two previous Verité Insights titled “Sri Lanka missing world’s biggest trade party and its in her backyard” & “Trade Agreements that don’t deliver the goods” published in May and June 2013 pointed out that Sri Lanka is well behind her Asian neigbours in entering into trade agreements, and that those entered into were also deficient. This Insight shows that this is even more so the case with agreements that go beyond trade in goods to cover trade in services. This observation does not give a green light to ETCA (Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement with India). but it does provide some context. Even though ETCA type agreements is ‘new territory’ for Sri Lanka, many of its neighbors in Asia have been quite vigorous in entering into such goods and services agreements in the last decade. The current debate on ECTA is around whether Sri Lanka should go ahead with the agreement or not. However, the important question to ask is what costs and benefits could accrue to Sri Lanka, and how that can be managed by the scope and structure of the agreement. Whether a trade agreement is beneficial or not depends greatly on those details. The experience with existing…

Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment 2016

The Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment analyses six spheres of contestation within Sri Lanka’s current political context, and assesses their impact in terms of securing peace and accelerating inclusive growth in the future. These spheres of contestation have been identified and classified along two axes: horizontal contestation and vertical contestation. The former deals with contestation within and between communities, while the latter deals with contestation between the Sri Lankan state and citizens.

Sri Lanka’s tea Industry – too long in adolescence, it’s time to grow up

Tea sector wage negotiations have been in deadlock now for 10 months. There are political reasons for this situation, but also an overarching economic one: global tea prices have declined – as it periodically happens – and the industry is not geared to compete. Tea is an industry in which Sri Lanka has established a global reputation – Ceylon tea, as it is known worldwide, is considered to be amongst the best black tea in the world. This is mostly a result of Sri Lanka’s climatic and geographic conditions, which yield a quality of tea that is exceptional. Post-independence, Sri Lanka started off with an industry that was inherited. The tea plantations came not only with factories and machinery, but even workers who had been transplanted from India by the British, who served in poor and difficult conditions in the tea estates. The industry in Sri Lanka has relied mostly on its inherited position and first mover advantage in the world. Today it is in a crisis of its own brewing – the advantage of having poorly paid workers is diminishing, and the industry has not succeeded in adding to its productive value to face global competition. Currently, the average…

අපනයන ප්‍රවර්ධනය සඳහා අපනයන මූල්‍යකරණ පහසුකම්වල්‍ කාර්යභාර්ය සහ අදාළත්වය

මෙෙ අධයයනය සිදු කරන ලද්මද් මවරිමේ පර්මේෂණ (Verité Research) ආයතනමේ ආර්ික පර්මේෂණ කණඩායෙ විසිනි. සුභාෂිණි අමේසිිංහ (ආර්ික පර්මේෂණ ප්‍රධානි), නිලිංගිකා ප්‍රනාන්දදු, මර්වතී ඥාණසම්බන්දදන්ද සහ සීzනා හුමසේන්දමෙන්ද සැදුම්ලත් ලත් සාොජිකයින්ද පිරිසක් මෙෙ කණ්ඩායෙට ඇතුළත් විය. මෙෙ වාර්තාව සකසේ කිරීමම්දී පර්මේෂණ කටයුතු සඳහා සහාය ලබාමදමින්ද සෙසේත පර්මේෂණ සහ කර්තෘ අධීක්ෂණ කටයුතු සිදු කරන ලැබුමේ නිශාන්ද ද මෙල් විසිනි. ජාතික අපනයනකරුවන්දමේ ෙණ්ඩලමේ (NCE) සහාය ඇතිව මවරිමේ අයතනය ෙඟින්ද මෙෙ පර්මේෂණ වාර්තාව සකසේ කරනු ලැබිණ. සාර්ථක ෙඟ මපන්දීම් තුළින්දද සම්ුඛ පරීක්ෂණ සඳහා පහසුකම් සපයමින්දද සාකච්ඡා අිංෙ සඳහා සහභාගී මවමින්දද මෙෙ පර්මේෂණ කාර්යය ඉටු කර ෙැනීමෙහිලා දැක්ූ සහමයෝෙය සම්බන්දධමයන්ද ජාතික අපනයනකරුවන්දමේ ෙණ්ඩලය මවත මවරිමේ පර්මේෂණ ආයතනමේ ආර්ික පර්මේෂණ කණ්ඩායෙ සිය සේූතිය පුදකර සිටි.

Exchange rate management: politics trumps professionalism

Most people in a country don’t understand the intricacies of exchange rate management. Nevertheless, actions in this regard have significant implications for the economic stability, growth and overall success of the economy, on which human development is fostered. This Insight explains how a professional approach to the management of the exchange rate seems to have been trumped by political considerations for much of 2015. The losses suffered by a lack of professionalism are not too different to the losses suffered due to corruption, and the lack of professionalism and corruption tend to be parasitic on each other. Therefore, this Insight also points to an important focus that has not yet been adopted by the agenda for good-governance.

Sri Lanka’s post war growth: Still stuck in an unsustainable strategy

Sri Lanka has been driving post-war growth in boom and bust cycles on the trade deficit; and fiscal measures have been used, especially spending on construction, to offset the bust cycles. This strategy is now being squeezed to pulp and it is not sustainable going forward.

CSO Sustainability Index 2015 Sri Lanka

The Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI) has been used since 1997 to assess the sustainability of the CSO sector. The Index has expanded considerably since its inception – it went from covering 18 countries in the Europe and Eurasia Region, to covering over 60 countries in different regions around the world. By using standard indicators and collecting data each year, the CSOSI enables users to track developments and identify trends in the CSO sector over time while allowing for cross-country and cross-region comparison. It is used by CSO advocates, development partners, and academics to assess international and regional trends in the civil society sector and to identify common obstacles impeding the sector’s sustainability, such as the legal environment, organizational capacity, and financial viability. This is the second time Sri Lanka is participating in the index. Verité Research is the local implementing partner for this initiative.

CSO Sustainability Index 2015 for Asia

The Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI) has been used since 1997 to assess the sustainability of the CSO sector. The Index has expanded considerably since its inception – it went from covering 18 countries in the Europe and Eurasia Region, to covering over 60 countries in different regions around the world. By using standard indicators and collecting data each year, the CSOSI enables users to track developments and identify trends in the CSO sector over time while allowing for cross-country and cross-region comparison. It is used by CSO advocates, development partners, and academics to assess international and regional trends in the civil society sector and to identify common obstacles impeding the sector’s sustainability, such as the legal environment, organizational capacity, and financial viability. This is the second time Sri Lanka is participating in the index. Verité Research is the local implementing partner for this initiative.

Improving Trade with India: Mutual Recognition in Conformity Assessment

“In the context of growing bilateral relations with India, this study by Verité Research takes a look at the current status of Sri Lankan exports to India under the existing India – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA). The study identifies Non-Tariff Barriers to be a critical factor in the lackluster performance of exports to India in recent years. The case of food exports serves to highlight how compliance with Indian standards and regulations forms one such significant barrier, due to India’s non-recognition of testing and certification conducted outside its borders. The proposed solution to this problem – a Mutual Recognition Agreement – is one that is easily implementablewhich will help exporters enjoy the full benefits of duty concessions offered by the ISFTA and if done right, will help build confidence in the benefits of further integration.”

Improving Trade with India: Mutual Recognition in Conformity Assessment (Tamil Edition)

“In the context of growing bilateral relations with India, this study by Verité Research takes a look at the current status of Sri Lankan exports to India under the existing India – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA). The study identifies Non-Tariff Barriers to be a critical factor in the lackluster performance of exports to India in recent years. The case of food exports serves to highlight how compliance with Indian standards and regulations forms one such significant barrier, due to India’s non-recognition of testing and certification conducted outside its borders. The proposed solution to this problem – a Mutual Recognition Agreement – is one that is easily implementablewhich will help exporters enjoy the full benefits of duty concessions offered by the ISFTA and if done right, will help build confidence in the benefits of further integration.”