K D Vimanga on Newsline in conversation with Sharlan Benedict 22/06/2021

K D Vimanga, Policy Analyst at Advocata Insitute on News1st NEWSLINE program 22/06/2021. She addresses the policy stability the need of the hour on Newsline with Sharlan Benedict.

"The most important thing we need to realize about public policy is that it deals with peoples issues and the issues that impact their livelihood. And then we analyze those issues. As a policy-maker or policy analyst what we do is try and propose solutions that are equitable, in line with the development and with other factors. The problem in Sri Lanka is that we haven't prioritized this process."

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Dr. Roshan Perera on Newsline in conversation with Sharlan Benedict 18/06/2021

Dr. Roshan Perera, Senior Visiting Fellow at Advocata Insitute on News1st NEWSLINE program 18/06/2021. She addresses the policy stability the need of the hour on Newsline with Sharlan Benedict.

"The fundamental problem that Sri Lanka is facing, which it has been for decades, is our twin deficit problem. We have both a fiscal and external deficit. Basically, we have been living beyond our means and consuming more than we produce. We must address this problem."

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Murtaza Jafferjee on Face the Nation: Overcoming Sri Lanka's economic woes

Murtaza Jafferjee Chair of Advocata Institute was featured on the News1st Face the Nation: Overcoming Sri Lanka's economic woes that was aired on the 14th of April 2021.

'It is a pity that we have been playing politics with fuel prices. The first time I recollect a fuel pricing formula was put into operation was back in the early 2000s. In 2005 this program was suspended by the new government. It's by far the single largest component of our import bill. So it's vital that we price it correctly. This price increase was long overdue. Even now we are running at a loss.' - Murtaza Jafferjee

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Aneetha Warusavitarana on Newsline in conversation with Sharlan Benedict 14/06/2021

Aneetha Warusavitarana (Research Manager at the Advocata Institute) speaks about the fuel pricing mechanisms & economy. SHe addresses this on Newsline with Sharlan Benedict. June 14, 2021.

'Ideally the solution that would work best here is a fuel pricing formula. A crucial factor is that this formula is transparent. The way in which it is calculated should be made available to the public, it should be vetted by the relevant authorities and we should be able to understand how this formula works and how it is linked to international changes in fuel prices.'

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Murtaza Jafferjee on Face the Nation: Port City Economic Commission Bill, the good, the bad and the ugly

Murtaza Jafferjee Chairman of Advocata Institute was featured on the News1st Face the Nation: Port City Economic Commission Bill, the good, the bad and the ugly programme that was aired on the 19th of April 2021. Murtaza comments on the Good and the Bad of port city and why do we need the Port City workaround

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Dhananath Fernando on Newsline with Faraz Shauketaly. April 19, 2021

Dhananath Fernando, Chief Operating Officer of the Advocata Institute speaks how Special Economic Zones are needed because doing business in SriLanka is difficult and how the Port City is not going to solve all our problems. He addresses this on Newsline with Faraz Shauketaly. April 19, 2021.

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New Policy Interventions by Central Bank Could Negatively Impact Exporters

Aneetha Warusivitarana, Research Manager at Advocata Institute was featured on News 1st : Prime Time English News on 20-02-2021. She comments on how the new policy interventions by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Central Bank of Sri Lanka could negatively impact exporters.

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Is the Economy in Peril? Sri Lanka's National Debt

Murtaza Jafferjee Chairman and Dhananath Fernando, Chief Operating Officer of the Advocata Institute participated in an exclusive News 1st discussion on the topic “IS THE ECONOMY IN PERIL?” with Chandra Jayaratne Former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Dr. W. A. Wijewardhena Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

To access the opening presentation by Dhananath Fernando

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Dhananath Fernando on the Lane law and the economy

Dhananath Fernando, Chief Operating Officer of the Advocata Institute was featured on the News1st Newsline Live that was aired on the 17th of September. Dhananath comments on the transportation and infrastructure system in Sri Lanka and how it immensely affects the economy of the country. He addresses that the priority of Lane law is to encourage the general public to use public transport as a mode of transport. In addition, Dhananath also comments on Sri Lanka’s imports restrictions and exports.

Advocata on Public Savings and Investments

Dhananath Fernando, Chief Operating Officer of the Advocata Institute was featured in the News1st English Prime Time Bulletin that was aired on the 16th of September at 9.00 PM. Dhananath comments on how trust is important when it comes to investment. He also mentions that when it comes to the savings in banks, the public is skewed to State-owned banks due to the perception that the government will intervene and rescue if a problem arises.

Dr Sujata Gamage comments on the allocation of portfolios for ministers

Dr. Sujata Gamage Advisor to the Advocata Institute was featured on "Pathikada" that was aired on the 13th of August. Dr. Gamage commented on the allocation of portfolios for ministers, the role of state ministers, district coordinating committees, the number of ministers appointed, and the way forward.

Advocata ආයතනයට උපදේශිකවරියක් වන ආචාර්ය සුජාතා ගමගේගේ "පැතිකඩ" වැඩසටහනට අගෝස්තු 13 වන දින සම්බන්ද වන ලදී. අමාත්‍යවරුන් සඳහා අමාත්‍යංශ වෙන් කිරීම, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන්ගේ කාර්යභාරය, දිස්ත්‍රික් සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු, පත්කරන ලද අමාත්‍යවරුන් සංඛ්‍යාව සහ ලංකාව ඉදිරියට යා යුත්තේ කෙසේද යන්න පිලිබඳ එතුමිය අදහස් දැක්වීය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රජය සතු ව්‍යවසායන් 2019 දී අඛණ්ඩව විශාල පාඩු විඳිමින් සිටී

රජයට අයිති ව්‍යාපාරය ලබන සම්පූර්ණ පාඩුව සෙවීමට  කලින් රජයට ව්‍යාපාර කීයක් අයිතිද කියා සොයා බලා ලයිස්තුවක් සෑදිය යුතුයි. 

නැරඹීමට මෙතන ක්ලික් කරන්න

State-Owned Enterprises in Sri Lanka continue to suffer massive losses in 2019

Aneetha Warusavitarana, Research Manager of the Advocata Institute was featured in the News1st English Prime Time Bulletin that was aired on the 26th of June at 9.00 PM. Discussing the loss-making SOEs Aneetha recommended reforms which include compiling a comprehensive list of all State-Owned entities, an ongoing monitoring setup with a clear framework to track Key Performance Indicators in line with the OECD’s guidelines on corporate governance of state enterprises and strengthening the Parliamentary Committee on public accounts, and the Parliamentary Committee on public enterprises to improve accountability within the system

“In 2019 the total losses sustained by the key 52 state entities amounted to rupees 151 billion, with budgetary support amounting to 49 billion. Of this 49 billion budgetary support, 20 billion was allocated for recurrent expenditures on salaries and overhead costs. The key reason for these losses is the lack of oversight and governance structures in state enterprises” 

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Impact of COVID-19 on small and micro enterprises, unregistered businesses

Aneetha Warusavitarana, Research Manager of the Advocata Institute, was featured in the News1st English Prime Time Bulletin that was aired on the 04th of May at 9.00 PM. Discussing the impact of Covid-19 on small and micro enterprises, Aneetha weighed in on certain stakeholders such as unregistered businesses that remain invisible to policymakers and government officials.

“Even though Sri Lanka is seeing a relaxation of curfew measures, it will be a while before the economy opens fully and returns to a pre-Covid level of activity. Business registration is vitally important within this context as it is a prerequisite to opening a bank account, being eligible for formal assistance and even applying for something like a curfew pass.” 

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Sri Lanka heading towards an economic downturn in the wake of COVID-19

Advocata Cheif Operating Officer, Dhananath Fernando joined an interview with News1st to discuss the economic impact of COVID-19 on Sri Lanka.

“…it will be a very difficult time for Sri Lankans as well as for all global citizens. For Sri Lanka it will be a double whammy,” Fernando said in an interview with News1st.

Sri Lanka kicked off the year with a GDP rate of 2.6 percent and has to settle USD 4.8 billion as external foreign debt, the highest debt repayment amount for the country within a single year.

“Operating the markets [sic] finding a solution to do that is also critically important while on the medical front we are taking the necessary measures,” he noted.

Price controls are not a solution during a pandemic

Dhananath Fernando, Cheif Operating Officer of the Advocata Institute joined a discussion on the economic impacts of Covid-19 on Sri Lanka with Faraz Shauketaly on NEWSLINE.

“91% of our Tin Fish is imported and the rate of tax (tariff) is 35% on one hand, and then you ask them to sell it at Rs. 100 which is almost about half of the general retail price according to the Government Census. So, the poor man, who could have afforded a Rs. 200 Tin Fish can no longer find it available in the market and now his protein requirement he has to move to an alternative which is more expensive than Rs. 220 (the original price of tin fish)”

“The general rule is that when you have price controls, it is unavoidable that people hide stocks and it hits the poor the most - when there is no food available at the shelf and you have to shift to the alternative that is more expensive.”

The economic impact of COVID-19 on Sri Lanka; a discussion on Face the Nation

Advocata Institute COO, Dhananath Fernando joined a discussion on Covid-19 with Face the Nation along with Prof. Indika Karunathilake (President of the SLMA), Dr. Samantha Ananda (Spokesperson of the GMOA and Dr. Sajeewana Amarasinghe (Secretary of the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists).

“In terms of recommendations for the government on the economic front, there are 3 things that you should not do at this particular moment: One is imposing price controls, two is printing money because that will create inflation and again hit the poorest of the poor - price controls do the same, the third thing is having import controls because that will have a negative long term impact” - Dhananath Fernando

Survey reveals that 81% of Sri Lankans claim that state enterprises do not provide enough services to justify losses

Advocata Research Analyst, Aneetha Warusavitarana was featured on News 1st’s Prime Time English News where she explained the findings of Advocata’s latest public opinion poll on State Owned Enterprises.

855 respondents across 8 provinces were asked the question “Do you think the losses sustained by state enterprises are justified given the services they provide?” To which, 81% answered “No”.