Thematic

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.

The Lure of Chinese Loans

China was the leading provider of external finance to Sri Lanka for infrastructure development during 2010-2016 accounting for 37% of the total. Sri Lanka borrowed USD 5,895 million from China for infrastructure development during this period. More than half of these loans from China (53%) came through a special regulatory framework set up in 2010, enabling the government to entertain unsolicited proposals (USPs) for public funded infrastructure projects circumventing the normal competitive procurement process. This research paper analyses the design and the actual practice of this special regulatory framework. The analysis aims to assess the extent to which the design and the actual execution of the special framework facilitated the realisation of its intended objectives.

Opportunities to Protect Public Interest in Public Infrastructure: A Review of Regulatory Frameworks in Sri Lanka.

Investment into infrastructure is vital for development. However, in the context of weak governance, public investment into large and complex infrastructure can become a fertile ground for corruption and results in unsustainable, costly, and poor-quality infrastructure that fails to meet the intended objectives.

පොදු යටිතල පහසුකම් තුළ මහජන සුබසිද්ධිය සුරැකීමට ඇති අවස්ථා: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නියාමන රාමු පිළිබඳ සමාලෝචනයක්

යටිතලපහසුකම් සඳහා කරන ආයෝජනයන් රටක සංවර්ධනයට අතිශයින් වැදගත් වේ. කෙසේ වෙතත් දුර්වල පාලනයක් පවතින සන්දර්භයක් තුළ මහා පරිමාණ සහ සංකීර්ණ යටිතලපහසුකම් සංවර්ධන ව්‍යපෘති දුෂණයන්ට ඉතා හිතකර පසුබිමක් බවට පත්විය හැකි අතරම අපේක්ෂිත අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කරගැනීමට අපොහොසත් වන අධික පිරිවැයක් සහිත, ගුණාත්මක භාවයෙන් පහළ යටිතලපහසුකම් බිහිවීමටද එකී ආයෝජනයන් හේතු විය හැක.

அரச உட்கட்டமைப்பு வசதிகள் மீது பொதுமக்களுக்குரிய நலன்களை பாதுகாப்பதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்கள்: இலங்கையின் ஒழுங்கு முறைச்சட்டகங்கள் பற்றிய மீளாய்வு

உட்கட்டமைப்பில் முதலீடு செய்வது அபிவிருத்திக்கு இன்றியமையாதது. எவ்வாறாயினும், பலவீனமான ஆளுகையின் பின்னணியில், பெரிய மற்றும் பல்கூட்டு உட்கட்டமைப்பிற்கான அரச முதலீடு ஊழலுக்கான வளமான களமாக மாறி, விளைவாக நீடுறுதியல்லாத, செலவுகூடிய மற்றும் குறைதரமான உள்கட்டமைப்பை ஏற்படுத்துவதோடு உத்தேசித்த நோக்கங்களை நிறைவேற்றத் தவறிவிடுகிறது.

W(h)ither Environmental Governance: Limited Access to Information Undermines Meaningful Participation in Development Projects

There is a surge in public agitation against environmental destruction caused by ongoing development projects in Sri Lanka. The surfacing of environmental issues after construction has commenced is highly problematic for two reasons. First, the construction may have already caused damage to the environment, which may be irreversible in certain cases. Second, the revising of original project plans to mitigate environmental damages can result in delays and increased costs.

Youth Labour Market Assessment Sri Lanka

Building on the Youth Labour Market Assessment published by Verite Research in 2018, this report focuses on a series of specific issues that represent key barriers to increasing youth employment and youth employability in Sri Lanka. Given the potential of youth entrepreneurship to serve as a key driver for increasing the labour force participation of youth, including young women, the current report also investigates key challenges and opportunities for increasing youth entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka.

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.

Youth Labour Market Assessment Sri Lanka

The Youth Labour Market Assessment takes an in-depth look at youth employment and unemployment in Sri Lanka. This report examines 4 gaps; skills gap, aspirations gap, information gap and the structural gap, which are used to explain the paradox of high youth unemployment in a country which has a large number of job opportunities available presently. Bridging these gaps, especially in the high growth sectors in Sri Lanka is a priority for policymakers. Analysis from a primary survey of 2,000 youth and 211 employers are the main data source for the report. The report provides detailed insights on unemployed youth, constrained youth, employed youth, gender and entrepreneurship training. An abridged version of the full report is also made available, and provides key findings and recommendations that are pertinent to the private sector, donor community and vocational training providers. The report was produced for YouLead, a USAID-funded youth employability and business startup programme working to improve youth employability outcomes by addressing bottlenecks in the technical and vocational education and training sector in Sri Lanka. Click here for abridged version with key findings and recommendations  The data from the 2 primary surveys can be assessed below: YouLead Youth Survey YouLead Employer Survey  Youth…