Thematic

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.

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.

සංක්ෂිප්ත සටහන: ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ ණය කළමනාකරණය

මෙම සංෂිප්ත සටහනෙන් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ණය වාර්තාකරණයේදී මධ්‍යම රජයේ ආයතන වලින් පරිබාහිරව ඇති රාජ්‍ය ආයතනවල විදේශ ණය ඊට ඇතුලත් කිරීමට අපොහොසත් වීම ලංකාවේ ණය බර අවතක්සේරුවට හේතු වන බවයි. මෙයට හේතුපාදක වන එම තොරතුරුමය ගැටළුව කොටස් තුනක් ඔස්සේ මෙහිදී පැහැදිලි කර ඇත.

Slide Deck: Unlocking the Potential of Data: A Case Study on Data Dissemination Practices in Sri Lanka Customs

Successful economies have increasingly recognised the importance of improving access to data collected by governments. Accurate, timely and easily accessible data helps private sector growth and results in improved delivery by government. Sri Lanka Customs is the key government agency that collects trade data. Access to timely trade data is vital for firms engaging in international trade to make sound business decisions. It is also the basis on which countries should be formulating their trade policies and assessing their impact.

Slide Deck: 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.

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.

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.

දර්ශකයකට අනුව දුම්වැටි බදු අයකරන්නට කටයුතු කලොත්, 2020 දී, රජයට රුපියල් බිලියන 20ක අමතර ආදායමක්

කෝවිඞ් -19 වෛරසය පැතිරීම අවම කිරීම සඳහා ගෙන ඇති ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග හේතුවෙන් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා රජය අයවැය හා ආදායම් අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ දී තිබේ. මෙම අර්බුදයේ බොහෝ අවාසි පැවතුනත්, මෙම තත්ත්වය, ඇතැම් පාර්ශවකරුවන්ගේ අභිලාෂයන් අනුව කටයුතු කිරීමෙන් ඈත් වී, දුම්වැටි බදු ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කරන ආකාරය ක‍්‍රමවත් කිරීමට රජයට හොඳ අවස්ථාවක් ලෙස භාවිත කල හැකිය. මෙම විශ්ලේෂණය පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ලංකාවේ දුම්වැටි බදු සහ මිල ගණන් ඉහල දැමීම, රාජ්‍ය මුල්‍ය කළමනාකරණ මුල ධර්ම වලට අනුකුලව සිදු වී නොමැති බවයි. රට රාජ්‍ය මුල්‍ය අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ දී තිබෙන අවස්තාවක උදාවන, මැයි 31 වන දිනට යෙදී තිබුන ලෝක දුම්කොළ විරෝධී දිනය අපට සිහිපත්කර දෙන්නේ දුම්වැටි බදු ක‍්‍රමානුකුලව ඉහල දැමීමට අසමත් වීම ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියේ බරපතල අසාර්ථකත්වයක් බවයි.

ஏற்றுமதி பதிவூ நடைமுறைகள்

ஒரு வியாபாரம் ஏற்றுமதியில் ஈடுபடுவதற்கு ஏற்றுமதியாளராக பதிவூசெய்ய வேண்டும். தனி உரிமையாளருக்கானஃ பங்குடைமைக்கான தற்போதைய பதிவூ நடைமுறையில் குறைந்த பட்சம் 10 படிநிலைகளும் ஆறு வெவ்வேறு நிறுவனங்களும் சம்பந்தப்பட்டுள்ளன. இருந்த போதும் இச்செயன்முறை பற்றிய மட்டுப்படுத்தப்பட்ட தகவல்களே காணப்படுகின்றது. தற்போதைய ஏற்றுமதி பதிவூ நடைமுறைகள் நீண்டதுஇ செயற்திறனற்றது மற்றும் தொந்தரவூமிக்கது என எமது ஆய்வூ கண்டறிந்துள்ளது. இச்செயன்முறையானது பெரிய நிறுவனங்களைவிட அரசின் உதவியில் தங்கியூள்ள சிறிய மற்றும் நடுத்தர வர்தகங்களையே பிரதானமாக பாதிக்கின்றது.

சதுப்பு நிலத்தில் தவழ்ந்து செல்லுதல்

அரசாங்கத்தினால் கடைபிடிக்கப்படும் நடைமுறைகள் ஊகிக்கக்கூடியதாகவூம்இ செயற்திறன் மிக்கதாகவூம் அதியூயர் பயனை அடையக்கூடியதாகவூம் இருக்க வேண்டும். இவ்வாறான அம்சங்கள் தவறும் பட்சத்தில் எதிர் நோக்கக்கூடிய பிரச்சினைகளை இக் கொள்கைச் சுருக்கம் ஆராய்கின்றது. இது தற்போது அமுலில் காணப்படும் இறக்குமதி வரிவிலக்குத் திட்டங்களை நிர்வகிக்கும் வழிமுறைகளை ஆய்வூ செய்கின்றது.