Sri Lanka Economic Performance Assessment (2009)

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28 S RI L ANKA E CONOMIC P ERFORMANCE A SSESSMENT Telephone density appears to be rising rapidly, going from 16.5 fixed and mobile telephones per 100 people in 2005 to 72.4 in 2008. As this is a worldwide phenomenon, the Philippines and Thailand outperform Sri Lanka with 79.7 line and 89.6 lines per 100 people. 41 Figure 3-7 Internet Users, per 100 people Internet users are increasing consistently but remain below benchmarks and expected value. 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 Time Series Comparisons to other countries, most recent year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year Value 2004 1.4 2005 1.8 2006 2.5 2007 3.9 2008 5.7 Summary for 2004-2008 Five year average 3.1 Trend growth rate 35.8 Us e rs 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 25.9 Expected value and margin of error 5.7 4.6 8.6 6.0 20.0 S ri L a nka LMI-As ia LMI P hilippines Thailand Sri Lanka Global Standing Highest-five average 0.2 82.6 LKA Lowest-five average SOURCE: International Telecommunications Union CAS code: 25P1 Low quality infrastructure in Sri Lanka deters investment, undermines the competitiveness of existing businesses, retards job creation, and generally impedes growth, particularly outside the Western Province. Donor assistance for the establishment of public-private partnerships and to encourage private sector participation in upgrading physical infrastructure, especially electricity and transport, can be a catalyst for rapid growth and help reduce regional imbalances. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Science and technology are vital to a dynamic business environment and are a driving force behind productivity and competitiveness. Even for LMI countries such as Sri Lanka, transformational development depends on acquiring and adapting technology from the global economy. Lack of capacity to access and use technology prevents an economy from benefiting from globalization. Unfortunately, very few international indicators can be used to judge performance in this area for low- and lower-middle-income countries. From the limited information that is available, it appears that science and technology capability in Sri Lanka is above average for its level of development. For example, the annual WEF survey of executive perceptions of country 41 International Telecommunications Union.
P RIVATE S ECTOR ENABLING E NVIRONMENT 29 competitiveness includes a rating for the availability of scientists and engineers. For 2008, Sri Lanka received a score of 4.9 (on an ascending scale of 1 to 7), better than all comparators and above the expected value of 3.2. Moreover, Sri Lanka’s score is consistently improving. Another indicator is the WEF’s index of FDI Technology Transfer, which gauges the degree to which FDI brings new technology into an economy. Sri Lanka’s score of 5.1 (on the same ascending scale of 1 to 7) is above the expected value of 4.1 for a country with Sri Lanka’s characteristics and on par with comparator economies the Philippines, Thailand, and the LMI- Asia median score. Progress in science and technology is also influenced by intellectual property rights (IPR); weak protection of intellectual property can discourage investment involving innovative or proprietary technologies. Sri Lanka’s score of 3.7 on the WEF’s IPR index is just below Thailand’s score of 3.9. Sri Lanka’s performance on this indicator has also shown consistent improvement since 2006. Investing in science and technology education linked to productive employment is one of the best ways to drive growth. Donors would do well to assist with workforce development and IPR reform.
Page 1: Sri Lanka Economic Performance Asse
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Page 6 and 7: II Appendix A. CAS Methodology Appe
Page 8 and 9: IV SRI LANKA: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNES
Page 11 and 12: 1. Introduction This report is one
Page 13: I NTRODUCTION 3 Lanka’s character
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T ECHNICAL N OTES B - 35 CAS Code #
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Sri Lanka Economic Performance Assessment (2009)

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