Thematic

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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.

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State of The Budget Report 2022: Assessment on whether the expenditure allocations and taxation policies are in line with the government’s policy

This is the second report in a series of two reports on Sri Lanka’s central government budget for the year 2022. The report assesses whether the expenditure allocations and taxation policies are in line with the government’s policy.

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ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවයට අනුකූල වූ අයවැයකරණය: ප්‍රධාන කාර්ය සාධන දර්ශක පිළිබඳ ඇගැයීම ජූලි 2022

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවයට අනුකූල වූ අයවැයකරණය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය අත්කර ගෙන ඇති අසාර්ථකත්වය මෙම වාර්තාව මගින් ඉස්මතු කෙරේ. රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රතිපත්ති සැලසුම් කිරීම දුර්වල වීම හේතුවෙන් සැලසුම් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ආයතන අතර වගවීම දුර්වල වන ආකාරය දක්වන සවිස්තරාත්මක සිද්ධි අධ්‍යයනයක් ලෙස ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවයට පදනම් කරගත් ප්‍රධාන කාර්ය සාධන දර්ශකවලට අදාළ වැඩසටහන සැලකිය හැක. අයවැය ප්‍රතිපත්ති ක්‍රියාවට නැංවීමට පෙර මනාව නිර්වචනය කරන ලද රාමු සහ නිසි අධීක්ෂණ යාන්ත්‍රණයන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව සහතික කරමින් හොඳ විශ්ලේෂණයක් සිදු කිරීමේ වැදගත්කම මෙම වාර්තාව මගින් අවධාරණය කෙරේ.

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Apparel Exports from Sri Lanka to the EU: A product level analysis of the impact of GSP+

Concerns about Sri Lanka losing GSP+ concessions resurfaced with the EU parliament passing a resolution on June 10th, 2021, calling the EU Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to use GSP+ as leverage to push for the repeal or replacement of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). For Sri Lanka, a major area of concern is the impact of the above on apparel exports to the EU, a key beneficiary of the concessions. Apparel contributes the most to Sri Lanka’s export revenue, accounting for 40-45% of the country’s total exports and the EU is the second largest market for Sri Lankan apparel after the USA, making up 42% of Sri Lanka’s total apparel exports between 2015-2019.

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Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Evaluating Key Performance Indicators July 2022

This report highlights the failure of the Sri Lankan government in implementing gender responsive budgeting in Sri Lanka. The case of gender KPIs provides a detailed case study of how poor planning of government policies can lead to poor accountability among implementing agencies. The report highlights the importance of conducting good analysis, ensuring that well-defined frameworks and proper oversight mechanisms are in place before proceeding to implement budgetary policies.

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Public Report on the 2022 Budget: Assessment of the Fiscal, Financial and Economic Assumptions used in the Budget Estimates

This report provides an assessment and analysis of the fiscal, financial and economic assumptions and estimates applied in the formulation of the 2022 Budget.

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Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Evaluating Key Performance Indicators

This report assesses the extent to which the government has implemented 12 gender-related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These KPIs were developed by the former Ministry of Women and Child Affairs towards achieving Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

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ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවයට අනුකූල වූ අයවැයකරණය: ප්‍රධාන කාර්ය සාධන දර්ශක පිළිබඳ ඇගැයීම

ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රධාන කාර්ය සාධන දර්ශකයන් (ප්‍ර.කා.සා.ද.)12 ක් රජය කොතරම් දුරට ක්‍රියාත්මක කර ඇත්ද යන්න පිළිබඳව මෙම වාර්තාව ඇගැයීමට ලක් කරයි.

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பால்நிலை பொறுப்பு வரவு செலவுத்திட்டத் தயாரிப்பு: பிரதான செயலாற்றுகை சுட்டிகளை மதிப்பிடுதல

இந்த அறிக்கை அரசாங்கம் பாலினம் தொடர்பான 12 முக்கிய செயல்திறன் குறிகாட்டிகளை (KPIs) எந்த அளவிற்கு செயல்படுத்தியுள்ளது என்பதை மதிப்பீடு செய்கிறது.

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Briefing Note: Navigating Sri Lanka’s Debt

The published information on debt underestimates Sri Lanka’s overall external public debt burden and its distribution amongst external lenders. This problem arises because Sri Lanka’s reporting of external debt is limited to debt held directly by the central government and excludes debt held by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This reporting problem is especially evident when estimating Sri Lanka’s overall debt obligations to China, since much of Sri Lanka’s debt from China is placed on the books of Sri Lanka’s SOEs. It also exposes a loophole by which debt statistics can be manipulated, and even miscounted, in the midst of such manipulations.

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