Journal Articles

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Sri Lankan Economy of War and Peace
(Sameeksha, 2002) Kelegama, Saman
The experience of economic liberalisation in Sri Lanka has coincided with the nearly 20-year long civil strife in the nation's north and east. An attempt is made here to trace the economic reform programme since the war began. For the economy to be brought back on track the cumbersome task of balancing the needs of long-term economic management with the immediate demands of the current ceasefire and peace initiatives has to be undertaken.
Stabilization and Adjustment: A Second Look at the Sri Lankan Experience, 1977–93
(John Wiley, 1997) Dunham, David; Kelegama, Saman
Mainstream thinking on economic policy assumes a logical progression from stabilization to liberalization and adjustment that is rarely attainable in practice. Most developing countries have been forced to undertake them simultaneously with a resulting tension between them, and with conflicting demands being made on economic policy. This paper reexamines Sri Lankan economic performance in the 1980s from this perspective. It argues that the pristine application of theory is not an appropriate yardstick and that “economic mismanagement” is at best an incomplete explanation of what was happening. It contends that incompatible demands were at the time being made on economic policy, and stresses the importance of external shocks and the political sustainability of the reform process.