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    External Shocks, Adjustment Policies, and the Current Account: The Case of Sri Lanka, 1971-1991
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1993) White, Howard; Kelegama, Saman
    A major methodological problem in the analysis of adjustment policies is the separation of the effects of the policies themselves from those of changing external conditions. In this study authors’ use, with some significant modifications, decomposition approach to the context of Sri Lanka for the period 1971 to 1991. The paper initially presents the methodology and its application to Sri Lanka. It also incorporates discussion of the debates concerning Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic performance in the 1980s and the impact of adjustment policies more generally. Finally the paper draws out the conclusions and policy implications of authors’ analysis.
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    Contemporary Economic Issues: Sri Lanka in the Global Context - weekly commentaries on economic issues published in the Sunday Island, 2005-2006
    (Sri Lanka Economic Association, 2006) Kelegama, Saman
    This book is based on weekly commentaries on economic issues published in the Sunday Island. The book covers an important period where a number of domestic and global events influenced the economy of Sri Lanka at regular intervals – a crisis in the electric power sector, the international oil price hike, GSP-Plus scheme coming into operation, operationalization of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Bilateral Free Trade Agreement, steps to operationalize SAFTA, WTO debates before the Hong Kong Summit and the aftermath, growth of the Business Process Outsourcing industry, etc. The period under consideration also saw increasing inflow of aid, economic policy discussions and debates before the Presidential Election.
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    External Shocks, Adjustment Policies and the Current account: The Case of Sri Lanka, 1971-1991
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1993) White, Howard; Kelegama, Saman
    A major methodological problem in the analysis of adjustment policies is the separation of the effects of the policies themselves from those of changing external conditions. In this study authors’ use, with some significant modifications, decomposition approach to the context of Sri Lanka for the period 1971 to 1991. The paper initially presents the methodology and its application to Sri Lanka. It also incorporates discussion of the debates concerning Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic performance in the 1980s and the impact of adjustment policies more generally. Finally the paper draws out the conclusions and policy implications of authors’ analysis.
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    North American Free Trade Agreement and Its Implications for Sri Lanka: With Special Reference to the Garment Industry
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1994) Kelegama, Saman; Unamboowe, Indira
    The only available literature that gives at least some indication of NAFTA’s implications for Sri Lanka is a study done for the World Bank by Safadi and Yeats (1993) on NAFTA and South Asia. The study is more focussed on South Asia and the conclusions are based on aggregate statistics. An aggregate analysis for the South Asian region is always biased by the inclusion of Indian statistics. Moreover, the analysis of Sri Lanka’s case is based on the regional model which may not necessarily be valid for a small country like Sri Lanka. In this study we have re-examined in detail NAFTA’s implications for Sri Lanka. In particular, we have investigated Sri Lanka’s competitiveness vis-à-vis Mexico in the US market. While supporting the basic conclusion of Safadi and Yeats, they go on to show that NAFTA, and the gradual abolition of the MFA, give new opportunities to further expand the apparel industry of Sri Lanka. However, we argue that this will not happen merely by the market mechanism. Substantial work needs to be done both on the marketing side as well as on the supply side, the latter being weak needing more attention. In regard to the Uruguay Round, our analysis shows that there are gains for Sri Lanka, but the gains are not very significant as argued by Safadi and Yeats (1993).
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    Examination of Priority Export Products and Identification of New Export Products for Development and Promotion in Sri Lanka
    (1993) Kelegama, Saman; Wignaraja, Ganeshan
    The main objective of this study is to rank the priority export products list identified by the EDB according to the criteria: high labour intensity; high local resource intensity, high market potential, and high supply potential. The ranking exercise was done through using Non-Parametric Methods of Statistical Theory. The study also aims to identify new products that could be developed on the basis of exports made by countries that have/had similar initial conditions as that of Sri Lanka, and on the basis of imports demanded by major markets in the world.
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    Stabilization and Liberalization: A Closer Look at the Sri Lankan Experience 1977-93
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1994) Dunham, David; Kelegama, Saman
    Three years before the World Bank introduced its first structural adjustment loan in 1980, Sri Lanka had embarked on a process of economic liberalization. The results of this have been documented at the end of the 1980s. The events illustrate the difficulties of managing the transition from a closed to an open economy. However, tensions between different needs of stabilization and adjustment have received very little attention in the literature. Why Sri Lankan liberalization faltered during this period has still not been adequately answered. This paper attempts to provide an answer to this crucial question.
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    Privatization in Sri Lanka: the Experience During the Early Years of Implementation
    (Sri Lanka Economic Association, 1993) Kelegama, Saman
    This paper covers a very broad area while focusing mainly on the problems of privatization. The paper is divided as follows. Section 2 discusses the Sri Lankan privatization effort, with special emphasis on the background and preparatory work. Section 3 discusses the problems of privatization in Sri Lanka. Here we deal with the problems of the industrial sector in detail, and then outline the problems of the plantations and the transport sectors. Section 4 briefly examines some of the achievements of the privatization programme. Section 5 sets out some policy options for better prospects and concluding remarks.
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    The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture: Implications for Sri Lanka
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1996, 1996) Athukorala, Prema-Chandr; Kelegama, Saman
    The paper begins with an introduction to the agricultural sector in the Sri Lankan economy (Section 2). Section 3 provides an account of the current agricultural production and trade policies while paying attention to their roots in Sri Lanka's economic policy history and the related socio-political considerations. Section 4 is the core of the paper. It examines Sri Lanka's commitments to date to the URAA and constraints to further compliance with URAA provisions, followed by an assessment of the impact of URAA on world agricultural trade from the perspective of global trading opportunities for Sri Lanka. The paper ends in Section 5 with some concluding remarks.
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    Privatization: The Sri Lankan Experience
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1992, 1992) Kelegama, Saman
    This paper covers a very broad area while focussing mainly on the problems of privatization. The paper is divided as follows: Section 2 discusses the Sri Lankan privatizatin effort, with special emphsis on the background and preparatory work. Section 3 discusses the problems of pirvatization in Sri Lanka. Here the problems of the industrial sector are dealt with in detial and, in general, the problems of the plantations and the transport sectors. Section 4 briefly examines some of the achievements of the privatization programme. Section 5 gives some policy options for better prospects and the concluding remarks.
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    Policy Issues on Promoting Backward Linkages from the Garment Industry in Sri Lanka
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1996, 1996) Kelegama, Saman; Foley, Fritz
    This paper examines the slow growth of local supplies to the garment industry in Sri Lanka. We have shown that the overall investment environment in Sri Lanka and international demand patterns constrain the formation of competitive local producers of fabric and garment accessories. We have also shown that building and maintaining sources of competitive advantage among producers of garment inputs are crucial to their development and viability in a highly integrated global economic environment. From the Sri Lankan garment industry experience and from the available evidence from other countries, we have argued, in general, that the empasis on backward linkages industrialization is somewhat misplaced. Changes in the global environment and international demand patterns have made backward linkage effects less powerful than they were for import-substitution industrialization strategy in a closed economy. Although local supplies are useful and vluable, they cannot function unless conditions exist which allow them to be competitive.
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    Liberalization and Industrialization: The Sri Lankan Experience of the 1980s
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1992) Kelegama, Saman
    In this paper, the intention is to take a broad look at the developments in the industrial sector during the 1978-89 period, and offer an explanation for the prevailing weaknesses of the manufacturing sector. The paper also explores how effective liberalization has been in enhancing the industrial growth process. Certainly, there are various other means as well that one can adopt to analyse industrial growth. The liberalization framework is used here because it appears to be the core around which the Sri Lankan policy debate revolves. There are those who say that Sri Lanka's liberalization was inadequate to achieve rapid and sustainable industrialization. On the other hand, there are others who claim that Sri Lanka has liberalized far too much and this has worked against industrial progress. The paper takes a broad look at this debate and highlights some issues that are of relevance to policy-making.
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    Economic Reform and Governance: Second Wave of Liberalization in Sri Lanka 1989 - 93
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1995) Dunham, David; Kelegama, Saman
    This paper examines the second wave of economic liberalization in Sri Lanka from 1989-93 (President Premadasa years) from both a traditional economic and from a governance perspective, looking at political and technical determinants of economic policy. Authors argue that the two dimensions are interwined, that political will is an weight from “bad” to “good” governance, a government can improve economic performance may be misconceived. The paper is also first attempt to fill a gap in the literature on Sri Lankan economic policy.
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    The Economic Cost of the War in Sri Lanka
    (Institute of Policy Studies, 1999, 1999) Arunatilake, Nisha; Jayasuriya, Sisira; Kelegama, Saman
    There is growing interest in recent years in the economic dimensions of civil wars and other violent social conflicts. This paper discusses some of the conceptual and methodological problems associated with assessing the economic costs of such conflicts, and presents an evaluation of the costs of the (still ongoing) conflict in Sri Lanka. On conservative assumptions, the war may have cost the equivalent of twice Sri Lanka’s 1996 GDP.
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    Development Under Stress: Sri Lankan Economy in Transition
    (Sage, 2006) Kelegama, Saman
    This book examines various impediments faced in the development process and implementation of reforms in Sri Lanka, particularly after economic liberalization in 1977. The author maintains that it is a case of development under stress where the outcome has been far below the country's potential. The book describes key features of the Sri Lankan socio-political and economic system that prevented the country from achieving higher levels of economic growth. It explains why it could not match the economic achievements of South Korea and Malaysia-countries that had similar per capita income levels to that of Sri Lanka in the 1950s. The book is divided into five parts. The first part examines 50 years of economic development and the challenges ahead; the second discusses the economic liberalization debate; the third part looks at macroeconomic management during difficult times; the fourth looks at sectoral issues with reference to industry and agriculture; and the final part examines employment and poverty. [From Publisher Website]
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