Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
Since the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s economy is being transformed through a rapid process of financialisation. Such widespread financialisation facilitated infrastructure development, a real estate boom linked to urbanisation and expansion of credit leading to increasing indebtedness of the (...)
A debt burden will only scuttle economic recovery as it will put enormous pressure on small farmers, fishers, tea plantation workers and small and medium entrepreneurs who have to lead the economy towards recovery.
The onset of islandwide curfew since mid-March delivered a blow to the economy (...)
If Sri Lanka’s policy makers are slowly beginning to think about the possibility of local production, we must be wary of top-down efforts that only focus on managing state finances and increasing GDP growth, rather than empowering working people across diverse ethnic, religious, caste, and (...)
Sri Lanka’s working people are worried their pay and jobs will be easy targets as the economy is hit. Many are still waiting for their March salary. Plantation owners will cut hours to avoid paying bonuses.
Sri Lanka has been under curfew for over a fortnight. The near-total lockdown and the (...)
The Alliance for Economic Democracy (AED) is a concerned group of trade unionists, farmers, fishers, students, academics and activists who uphold the value of economic rights and justice in public policymaking. We wish to draw your attention to several key issues regarding the proposed (...)
More than a million families are in deep debt, having borrowed at loan shark rates from micro finance companies. Many people have committed suicide.
In one instance, a Batticaloa family headed by a woman, who had borrowed heavily from multiple lenders, was guided by local government officials (...)
As women were deemed to be thrifty, able to manage with meagre resources and responsible borrowers, they became the targets for such predatory lending.
We are witnessing large protests across the war-torn regions in the north and east, urging the Government to restrict the activities of (...)
After an enquiry among microcredit victims and militants acting in their defence, we present here some emblematic cases. We point out that we have been unable to meet any advocates of microcredits. Contrary to the usual claim (affirmation) that a small loan will permit the development of (...)
The Government recently released its ‘Vision 2025’ manifesto, aiming to revive the momentum of pro-market reforms. Its timing coincided with the 40th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s embrace of deregulation, trade liberalisation and privatisation, well ahead of the rest of South Asia.
This shift from (...)
Each January politicians and corporate executives from across the world gather at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos – with a Hollywood celebrity or glamorous royal in tow to excite the assembled media.
In Sri Lanka there was greater than usual interest in this (...)
A new economic policy package is fast consolidating as reflected by the Prime Minister’s Economic Policy Statement on November 5 and the 2016 Budget Speech on November 20. This vision is stimulating economic growth through increased construction supported by greater inflows of global finance (...)
Public education has been at the centre of many struggles in Sri Lanka. While images of the brutal attacks on the HNDA student protests are still fresh in our minds, another budget has been presented to us by the government. Increase in the allocations for education was announced as a highlight (...)
Budget speeches are politically significant not only for the specific proposals and policies they spell out but also for what they reveal about their authors. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s mega-speech is rich in both respects, especially given an elaborate first part that is quite (...)
The devastation of the war and the subsequent failure of reconstruction in the North and East under the Rajapaksa regime during the post-war years have led to a deep crisis characterised by falling incomes, rising unemployment and crippling indebtedness. The Government is clearly aware of this (...)
In the run -up to the presidential elections, the opposition manifesto had little to say about economic policy. However, it did state that it was committed to free education and healthcare, including by increasing state expenditure for those sectors.
Whether the new government will keep its (...)
There is a political rush in Sri Lanka. The Budget Speech was made a month ahead of schedule, the Pope is to visit in January, and now Presidential Elections may be jammed in before or after that. Is this a moment of panic?
Is the ruling regime worried about losing its electoral base? Or is it (...)
Globally job seekers who are looking for permanent jobs are in a crisis, since most of the companies are now to getting their work done through workers supplied by manpower agents. Nowadays youth are compelled to seek employment through these manpower agents since there is no other alternative (...)
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Sri Lanka is often considered to be South Asia’s outlier in terms of the incidence of absolute poverty and severe deprivation. In 2012, it was ranked 92 in the UN Human Development Index [1], which is higher than any other country in South Asia, and grouped in the high human (...)
Sri Lanka’s foreign debt doubled between 2010 and 2000 and is now more than USD18 billion or LKR2375 billion (US$1=Rs132). In comparison, Sri Lanka’s total economic output (gross domestic product) in 2011 was under USD60 billion.
As the amount of Sri Lanka’s borrowings from abroad increases, so (...)
The resignation last week of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairperson Tilak Karunaratne, after he blamed “a mafia of high net worth investors and their crony stockbrokers” for mobilising political pressure, has further exposed the crisis in the stock market. Over the last year, there (...)
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