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 […]
If I ever receive exceptional customer service at a Sri Lankan establishment, I am surprised, almost shocked. I’ve become quite accustomed to mediocre service at best, with little attention to detail and sometimes with a smile. So when a waiter is actually good and doing his/her job, it feels almost ‘unusual’. But that’s not how it should be. Expanding Sri ...
President Maithripala Sirisena delivered a keynote address at the closing session of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce ‘Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2015′ today, addressing over 500 of the country’s leading private sector representatives. Here are my 9 highlights from his remarks. The government must be transparent, accountable, clean, and fair in its dealings with the […]
As urban regeneration continues at a dizzying pace in Colombo, it was the focus of the opening technical session of a recent forum on ‘Sri Lanka’s Road to Sustainable Development’ organised by the Law and Society Trust (August 22nd 2014). I was a panelist at this event, along with Eran Wickramaratne (MP) and a consultant to the UDA, and was […]
A quick thought on today’s reshuffle of Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers. Although most people thought that following the comprehensive victory by both the President and the UPFA in the last set of elections, the strong 2/3rds majority in Parliament will mean that the government will be strong and stable and can, for once, avoid having to pander and ...
In his remarks at the recent Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2014, the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Suresh Shah made it a point to mention the role of R&D and private sector linkages in gearing Sri Lanka for a post-US$ 4,000 per capita income era. He remarked, “I urge the private sector to establish strong partnerships […]
It’s extremely encouraging and exciting that thanks to technology, viral videos, and social media ‘clicktivism’, the American ALS Association has been able to collect US$ 13.3 million in donations since July 29, from 260,000 new donors. This will surely help the 30,000+ Americans who have ALS, and boost the chances of a long-term cure. The […]
The Pathfinder Foundation held an interesting discussion last Friday (27th) on Sri Lanka’s ‘Government Enterprises’ as they called it, and what needs to be done about them. I chaired the session, and delivered some concluding remarks. Let me recap some of those views here. ‘Government’ enterprises are called different things at different times – State-owned […] ...
Despite IMF advice to the contrary, the CBSL cut policy lending rates yesterday in a move that is not entirely surprising. It’s clearly a “push to the 2013 finish” at this point, with the government under pressure to ensure that the growth rate for this year is seen to be above 7% unlike in 2012. Several agencies have forecast below ...
At my village home down South this weekend I had an interesting conversation with one of our long-time hands, Jinadasa, talking about how his son and daughter need to find jobs after having recently completed higher studies. His son had studied business administration in his degree programme at Ruhunu University, and focussed especially on human resources management. His only wish now ...
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 […]
The dynamics of competition always interests me, and it’s easy to see it everywhere we go. Last week, BreadTalk, the Singaporean bakery chain that has taken Colombo by storm, opened its newest outlet on Thimbirigasyaya Road (Havelock Town). This is interesting, because unlike its other branches on Union Place and Park Street Mews, because it is locating slap-bang in the ...
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 article is the 11th edition of the ‘Smart Future’ column, which originally appears in the Daily Mirror Business on 6th May (Wednesday). When nearly 90% of firms in Sri Lanka are SMEs, it is no surprise that the future prosperity of the country will depend on the extent to which the SME sector can […]
The Sri Lankan authorities, in the last few years, have firmly maintained their stance that they fully support the Sri Lankan private sector and believe it to be the economy’s ‘engine of growth’. The rhetoric hasn’t wavered, in the sense that the government has never shown signs of being systemically anti-capitalist (no, I haven’t forgotten the expropriations bill, though). Yet, ...
By now, we have all heard about the sad hit-and-run killing of a female leopard in Yala last week. It is yet another instance of reckless driving by safari jeep drivers inside the national park, and another nail in the coffin of a wonderful park that is increasingly becoming too crowded to enjoy. In 2012, BBC’s correspondent in […]
I was recently invited to speak at the launch of the Junior World Entrepreneurship Forum (JWEF) Sri Lanka Chapter (31st July 2014, LKI Auditorium). I was a panelist in the 2nd session on ‘The Entrepreneurship Eco-system’ and chaired the 3rd session that featured several young entrepreneurs. In the first session, I was asked to focus […]
So aside from today being International Youth Day, apparently it’s also ‘World Elephant Day’! Elephants have strong historic and cultural ties in Sri Lanka – from working elephants that carried logs or fought alongside kings in ancient Sri Lanka, to the present day parading of them in elaborate costumes at Buddhist peraheras. So on ‘World […]
This review originally appears in the Daily Mirror of Monday 4th August 2014. Minister Ranawaka’s new book is a formidable look at the nexus between energy, economics and politics Amidst the aggressive and polarizing late-night political shows on television, the mediocre debates in poorly attended parliamentary sittings, and lofty pronouncements in public rallies, Minister […] ...
In a time of heightened pressure on the country’s fiscal position, with competing priorities of government spending, and as the era concessional donor aid comes rapidly to an end, it is inexcusable for a Sri Lanka to flagrantly disregard good governance with regards to public expenditure. A petition filed by the CPA shows that this year too (it was highlighted ...
