Sri Lanka

The Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for FY13-16 is designed to assist the Government of Sri Lanka to address the long term strategic and structural development challenges,... Show More + while using the existing portfolio to support ongoing efforts to restore livelihoods of internally displaced persons and others affected by the conflict. This CPS provides support to address the challenges for achieving the Government's vision as laid out in the Mahinda Chintana, Vision for the future. The first goal of the Mahinda Chintana is to increase per capita income to US$ 4,000 by 2016 - will require sustained high economic growth (8 percent per year), driven by a high investment rate. The second goal is shifting towards a more knowledge based, globally integrated and competitive, environmentally friendly, internally integrated and increasingly urban economy. The third goal is ensuring improvement in living standards and social inclusion. The proposed FY13-16 CPS builds on the successful engagement under the FY09-12 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) and deepens the World Bank Group's support to Sri Lanka in addressing its emerging middle-income country agenda. The CPS includes an indicative pipeline of projects for financing. Reviews will be held annually to monitor CPS implementation and ensure continued alignment of the CPS with the evolving country needs. Show Less -

This assessment of public sector accounting and auditing is generally meant to assist with the implementation of more effective Public Financial Management (PFM) through... Show More + better quality accounting and public audit processes in Sri Lanka. It is intended to provide greater stimulus for more cost-effective outcomes of government spending. The specific objectives are (a) to provide the country's accounting and audit authorities and other interested stakeholders with a common strongly founded knowledge as to where local practices stand in accordance with the internationally developed standards of financial reporting and audit; (b) to assess the prevailing variances; (c) to chart paths to reduce those variances; and (d) to provide a continuing basis for measuring improvements. Show Less -

This report is intended to inform the discussions of the Sri Lanka Development Forum. Specifically, section One reviews recent economic performance, the status of macroeconomic... Show More + management and the strategic directions outlined in Mahinda Chintana. It notes that the recent acceleration in Sri Lanka's growth can be partly attributed to large aid flows for tsunami reconstruction and to rapid growth in domestic demand. While Sri Lanka can sustain higher growth given its level of human development and integration with global markets, this will require addressing structural constraints and managing the downside risks associated with rising inflation and the escalating conflict. Section Two of the report addresses the regional disparities in growth and poverty reduction in Sri Lanka. Noting that differences in education levels and access to infrastructure cannot fully explain the sharp gaps in regional growth, it suggests that the limited scope of market reforms in key sectors, such as agriculture, has played a more significant role. In particular, policy reforms in agriculture have been elusive, partly due to misperceptions that they will hurt the poor. Progress in reducing regional disparities will require politically-sensitive reforms that address these misperceptions, through inter alia public consultations. Finally, section Three takes up the question of how Sri Lanka can accelerate growth further by taking advantage of its high levels of educational attainment and tapping global opportunities in the information technology (IT) and knowledge sectors. The recent increase in foreign direct investment in telecommunications, IT, and business process off-shoring (BPO) in banking suggest that there is potential for such growth. This potential can be enhanced by moving further on the policy agenda that removes the obstacles facing a knowledge economy Show Less -

This report assesses Sri Lanka's experience with decentralization to date and discusses options for decentralization and implications for service delivery in three sectors:... Show More + roads, solid waste and health. The selected sectors illustrate the considerations relevant to the decentralization decision and its future direction. The services selected cover a range of central, provincial and local responsibilities in delivery and illustrate how the cause of success or failure of service delivery is rooted in the institutional framework, division of responsibility, funding mechanisms i.e. incentives and accountability. The effective provision of these services requires a clear understanding of the service delivery goals, technical capacity, adequate assets and recurrent inputs to deliver services. Each sector has its particular needs and to some extent can be considered independently, but the political realities effectively require that any constitutionally mandated and elected level of government have some corresponding responsibilities. Show Less -

This report is a contribution to a broader study entitled, 'aid, conflict and peacebuilding in Sri Lanka', which examines the peace process in Sri Lanka with a particular... Show More + focus on international engagement. This study focuses on the relationship between the economic agenda of the United National Front (UNF) government and the peace process it initiated by signing the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). The first part of the study gives a brief survey of literature that has analyzed the relationship between the liberalized phase of capitalism in Sri Lanka and the ethnic conflict. It places this study within a framework of analysis pioneered by the late Newton Gunasinghe in an essay written just after the violence of July 1983. The sections that follow contain the bulk of the analysis. After outlining the historical context in which the UNF government came to power, it analyzes the principal features of the UNF strategy. The role of the donors and the private sector is unpacked within this context. Finally, it concentrates on the political fallout of the economic agenda and how it undermined the UNF electoral base. Show Less -

This country procurement assessment report (CPAR) is presented in two volumes: Volume I is the Summary Report and Volume II is the Detailed Report. Volume I describes... Show More + the key findings on the effectiveness and transparency of the present Public Procurement System and includes a recommended action plan for improving the system. Vol. II presents the in-depth study of the existing Financial Regulations, Guidelines and the legal system in relation to procurement (in the absence of a Public Procurement Law), procedures followed for Government-funded programs vis-à-vis those funded with external assistance, standardization of documents, and the organizational setup for procurement processing and implementation, together with a General Risk Assessment. The CPAR is based on the responses to the questionnaires received, documents reviewed and interviews held. The team sent out three sets of questionnaires: one for selected government ministries, a second for the selected implementing agencies which had major procurements, and a third for the contractors' association; and reviewed their responses. Show Less -

This report's purpose is to identify and discuss in detail the principal issues affecting the transport sector's ability to efficiently provide the infrastructure services... Show More + needed to underpin growth in Sri Lanka. The report's objectives are to assist the government in (1) setting a clear vision for the transport sector to support the country's overall development goals; and (2) formulating an appropriate strategy and reform agenda for transforming the sector from a state-dominated one into an effective and efficient public-private partnership. The report discusses the transport sector's role in the context of the Government's Medium Term Development Strategy. Included in the analysis are the key sub-sectors of ports and shipping, railways, highways, and urban transport. The report analyzes the sector's past performance in terms of achieving its policy objectives. Key challenges facing the sector at present and in the future are identified, and an evaluation is made of the reforms and policy orientation needed to meet these challenges. Volume 2 consists of background papers and presentations. Show Less -

The situation that Sri Lanka now faces is one of the most complex in its history, both politically and economically. The report analyzes the causes for the deteriorating... Show More + economic situation: (a) the structural constraints to growth that were created over decades of controls and extensive government interventions in the economy prior to liberalization in 1977; (b) the unsustainably large macro-economic imbalances; and (c) the outbreak of the ethnic conflict in 1983. The report highlights the program of economic reforms recently announced by the Government as a bold initiative that aims at addressing the country's long standing structural constraints to growth. The report also analyzes the main components of the reforms in industrial policies, in the Government administrative structure and staffing levels, and in the public expenditure programs. The report makes detailed suggestions on how the efficiency of public expenditure programs could be improved. Show Less -

The government of Sri Lanka has followed up its program of economic reforms with a series of further policy initiatives. These have attempted to maintain the momentum... Show More + of liberalization of the economy, ensure adequate incentives for the productive sectors, shift the direction of policies in support of an export-led growth strategy, and greatly accelerate output and employment by mobilizing domestic and external resources in support of higher levels of pubic investment. This report looks at two areas where further action is needed: the medium-term public investment program in Volume I, and agricultural producer incentives in Volume II. The government's plan proposes levels of investment that will require very high levels of foreign financing. A review of mobilization and allocation decisions will be necessary. The adequacy of agricultural incentives is crucial to the success of the government's strategy. These include prices for paddy; import policies related to many minor field crops; export taxation policies for coconuts, tea, and rubber; and returns from fertilizer use. Show Less -