Nearly six years since the end of the war, Sri Lanka is struggling to get any impressive increase in FDI. The only notable increase in FDI has come in the property, leisure, mixed development and real estate sector, evidenced by projects like Shangri-La, Altair Tower, JKH Waterfront, ITC Hotels, etc. FDI targets have been falling sharply short […]
This article originally appears in the ‘Smart Future’ column of Daily Mirror Business on Wednesday 25th March During the half way mark on a recent flight from Colombo to Jaffna on Helitours, the passengers were given a packet of wet wipes (refresher tissues) along with the snack box. I flipped the back to see who had […]
This article is the 6th in the ‘Smart Future’ series, and originally appears in the Daily Mirror Business of 18th March 2015 Globally, consumer trends towards healthy and more natural foods are beginning to offer lucrative new markets for producers. The global healthy foods market set to hit $1 trillion by 2017, according to […]
As the world marks this year’s Consumer Rights Day today on the theme of ‘Healthy Diets’, the global consumer trends around health and natural foods offer lucrative new markets. The increase in awareness on healthy diets and demand for health and wellness food products globally opens a great opportunity for producers from Sri Lanka. With a heritage of natural […]
Sri Lanka has the potential to be India’s strongest economic partner in this region, asserted visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a special speech to a packed audience comprising of the Indian and Sri Lankan private sector in Colombo on Friday. He opened by remarking that “no matter how far back our relationship dates, […]
This is the 5th article in the ‘Smart Future’ column, originally published in the Daily Mirror Business of Wednesday 11th March. With their wide geographical spread within a country as well as their wide sectoral coverage, SMEs are often an important source of inclusive economic growth and job creation. But Sri Lanka’s SMEs have not […]
This is the 5th article in the ‘Smart Future’ column, originally published in the Daily Mirror Business of Wednesday 11th March. With their wide geographical spread within a country as well as their wide sectoral coverage, SMEs are often an important source of inclusive economic growth and job creation. But Sri Lanka’s SMEs have not […]
This is the 4th article in the ‘Smart Future’ column originally published in the Daily Mirror Business on Wednesdays. Sri Lanka has struggled with engaging its diaspora. The protracted conflict polarized diaspora communities abroad and created negative perceptions at home. Yet, a conference held last week attempted to reverse this. Titled ‘Our Sri Lanka: Engaging Persons of […]
This article originally appears in the Daily Mirror Business paper of 25th February 2015, and is the 3rd in the ‘Smart Future’ series. In recent years, Sri Lanka has not been as serious and aggressive about forging trade agreements as many of its competitors. As global agreements like the Doha Development Agenda have stalled, many […]
For a while now I’ve wanted to have a special segment on this blog that picks out a key jargon-y word or phrase in economics from time to time and help to unpack it, and advance the knowledge on it among non-economists. So, welcome to ‘Speakonomics with The Curionomist’!. You’ll see me posting these from time to […]
I found some interesting articles in the days following my article last week on tax reform, related to taxation/revenue/fiscal issues. It’s always encouraging to see more opinion pieces as well as news articles on tax. It’s especially encouraging to see journey covering tax issues. I thought it would be useful to capture them here, as […]
This is the 2nd article in the ‘Smart Future’ series – my new weekly column in the Daily Mirror Business. In recent years Sri Lankan policymakers have turned their back on Europe – not only in terms of political issues, but also in terms of trade policy. The pivot of international economic policy to countries […]
In the aftermath of the global recession and the financial crisis, economists escaped largely unscathed. Thanks to the behaviour of banks and taxpayer anger at them, most people spared economists from much critique. However, five years since the first collapse, economists seem to be getting scrutinised a little more closely, albeit mainly in the American […]
Today (11th Feb), I’ve launched a new column titled ‘Smart Future’ in the Daily Mirror Business section, which will come out every Wednesday. The column will be short opinion pieces, on contemporary economic issues. My aim is to widen the debate to reach a larger readership, and advance ideas on economic reforms, innovation, and private […]
This article was written to coincide with the visit of the UNIDO Director General Li Yong to Sri Lanka, and originally appears in the DailyFT of 5th February 2015 Key Points: Visit of UNIDO Director General offers opportunity to push ‘ISID’ approach, focussing on ‘inclusivity’ and ‘sustainability’ Coherent and holistic policy framework needed 95% of […]
The Sunday Leader of 18th January 2015 has published a startling revelation on the extent to which Air Force flights paid for by public money has been abused by the first family and associates, during the height of the Presidential Elections season. According to the news report, these flights have cost a staggering Rs 30.485 million. […]
I’m launching a series of 10-minute podcasts on this blog, to share with you new thoughts, ideas, insights, and curious musings regarding economic issues. This first one comes on the eve of Sri Lanka’s Presidential Elections on 8th January 2015). In this I talk about 3 things: the economic agenda contained in the two candidate’s […]
I’m launching a series of 10-minute podcasts on this blog, to share with you new thoughts, ideas, insights, and curious musings regarding economic issues. This first one comes on the eve of Sri Lanka’s Presidential Elections on 8th January 2015). In this I talk about 3 things: the economic agenda contained in the two candidate’s […]
“Whereas in furtherance of the development policies being promoted by the Government in the backdrop of a globally integrated environment, it is deemed expedient and necessary to ensure the prudent use of land which is a limited resource, in a manner that preserves the national interest” This is the opening section of the new Land (Restrictions on […]
“Whereas in furtherance of the development policies being promoted by the Government in the backdrop of a globally integrated environment, it is deemed expedient and necessary to ensure the prudent use of land which is a limited resource, in a manner that preserves the national interest” This is the opening section of the new Land (Restrictions on […]