Category: Watch Tower
Sri Lanka’s Female Migrant Workers: Flying Abroad on Borrowed Time
By Manisha Weeraddana In a small roadside hut in Nattandiya, Asoka Malini, a returnee migrant worker, spends her days with a handful of vegetables. She worked for 6 years in Saudi Arabia as a housemaid and a care worker, earning a monthly salary of LKR 20,000. As a mother of two, Asoka now faces an […]
Empowering SL Women: Highlights from National Policy Conference on Women’s Access to Decent Work
By Kimuthu Kiringoda and Himani Vithanage In Sri Lanka, only 7.7% of working-age females are engaged in formal employment with decent wages and decent working hours. The country’s persistent challenge of low female labour force participation is compounded by a multitude of unique barriers to improving women’s access to decent work. Decent work is multifaceted, […]
Between Homefront Policies and Global Developments: Sri Lanka’s External Sector Outlook
By Nilupulee Rathnayake Having weathered a challenging period marked by a deep economic crisis, Sri Lanka is now demonstrating positive signs of an economic upturn. Still, amidst limited homefront policy alternatives against an unfavourable global backdrop, a critical question arises: how will Sri Lanka’s external sector cope in the face of these challenges? Notably, import […]
University Business Link. Connecting Academic Inspirations to Commercial Markets
By Jekhan Aruliah Entrepreneurs turn ideas into business and money. Rubbish rescued from tips make valuable construction materials and fuels. Microwave ovens and matchsticks, accidental discoveries, became huge industries. An annoyingly sticky substance sold as Superglue. Another pathetically weak glue led to Post-It Notes. Antibiotics and Insulin, discovered by chance observation, are multibillion dollar businesses. […]
Opinion: Energy, EVs, Environment and the Economy
By M. Rizwan Muzzammil According to an article in ‘The Diplomat’ (2nd Oct 23), the Sri Lankan government has committed to supplying 70% of its domestic electricity with renewable energy sources by 2030, with the longer-term goal of achieving a fully renewable electricity supply by 2050. The government is incentivized by “debt-for-renewables swap”, which enables […]
Borders and Budget: Visa reform will boost tourism and reverse brain drain
By Daniel Alphonsus Three million tourists are set to visit our shores next year. We will issue nearly as many online visas – millions too many. ETAs are a tourist’s bane: rather than dreamy sun, sea and sand, the weary salaryman’s getaway begins with the tedium of forms. The tourist’s ayubowan to Sri Lanka begins […]
‘CTO – the Psychologist’: A role banking tech leaders must master to ensure digital change
By Janaka Ediriweera Dr. Corrie Block, an Organizational Behavior Expert and a business coach in the UAE, asks, ‘If you were to go in for heart surgery, buy a new car, or say your wedding vows to someone knowing that there was an 84% chance of failure…would you even bother?’ He uses this metaphor to […]
Building Sri Lankan food security and self sufficiency in Jaffna
By Jekhan Aruliah K.Suganthon was only 21 when he setup his first business back in 2003. With the Sri Lanka Civil War simmering in an uneasy ultimately unsuccessful ceasefire (2002-2006), he opened an outlet in Colombo’s Pettah market. From Pettah, famous for its streets densely packed with shops and market stalls, Suganthon started trading edible […]
Opinion: Sri Lanka is Back in Business
By Kamil Kuthubdeen As Asian economies grapple with the challenges of growing interest rates and diminishing export demand, Sri Lanka, in comparison, stands as a unique case. Amid the twin effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, Sri Lanka emerges with a positive economic outlook. Tourism revenue and remittances from Sri Lankan overseas […]
Bridging Conservation and Livelihoods: Addressing the Human-Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka
By Ruwan Samaraweera Written ahead of World Elephant Day, observed on 12 August 2023. Introduction On World Elephant Day, attention turns to the unique challenges faced by Sri Lanka in the realm of human-elephant conflict (HEC). HEC’s escalating toll paints a stark reality. Human communities endure property damage, crop loss, and tragic fatalities, amplifying poverty […]
Sri Lanka’s Debt Restructuring Roadmap: Following the Evidence
By Dr Dushni Weerakoon: Debt restructuring is fundamentally about allocating the associated economic costs to someone. The onus is typically on the debtor country to secure participation from its creditors, applying comparable treatment to all. As with all negotiations, the level and modalities of relief will always be subject to some degree of controversy. Sri […]
Has Sri Lanka’s Crisis-driven Import Controls Incentivised Import Substitution?
By Dr Asanka Wijesinghe and Nilupulee Rathnayake: In response to the economic crisis, Sri Lanka implemented import controls that expanded significantly by the end of 2022, accounting for approximately 30% of the country’s total import value (Figure 1). The controls affected various categories, including consumption goods (46%), intermediate goods (31%), and capital goods (24%). As […]