COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
2.06 The Sri Lanka Department of Census and Statistics recorded in their Household Income
and Expenditure Survey – 2009/10 Final Results, March 2011 18 that ―The median
monthly household income… is Rs. 23,746 [approximately £135 with the exchange rate
of January 2012 ] in 2009/10 showing an increase of about 42 percent from 2006/07.‖
The same document noted that highest average monthly household income was
reported from the Colombo district and the lowest from the Jaffna district.
3. HISTORY (1948 – JUNE 2011)
The following section gives a brief overview of Sri Lanka‘s recent history since
independence, with a focus on events since 2005.
KEY POLITICAL EVENTS
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
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3.01 The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) country profile of Sri Lanka 19 (last reviewed
on 9 December 2011) stated:
―Since independence from Britain in February 1948, the political scene has been
dominated by two parties: the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party (SLFP), which is now part of the People‘s Alliance (PA)…A republican constitution
was adopted in 1972 and the ruling coalition, led by Sirimavo Banadaranaike, gave itself
an extra two years in power. The UNP returned to power in 1978 and adopted a new
constitution based on an executive presidency. It introduced for the first time elections
based on proportional representation.‖
3.02 The FCO Sri Lanka country profile 20 stated that by 1993 ―…the SLFP had become part
of the People‘s Alliance (PA) coalition headed by Chandrika Kumaratunga daughter of
SWRD and Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Mrs Kumaratunga went on to win a landslide
victory in elections in November 1994 and 1999 and served as President until
November 2005.‖
3.03 The FCO Sri Lanka country profile 21 also noted that: The elections in April 2004
produced a new political order with the victory of the UPFA (SLFP and JVP alliance).
17 xe.com Universal Currency Converter
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=1&From=GBP&To=LKR&image.x=81&image.y=13 date
accessed 18 January 2012
18 Sri Lanka Department of Census and Statistics, Household Income and Expenditure Survey – 2009/10
Final Results, March 2011 http://www.statistics.gov.lk/Newsletters/HIES200910FinalBuletin.pdf date
accessed 2 June 2011, p2-3
19 Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), Country profile of Sri Lanka, last reviewed 9 December
2011, http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asiaoceania/sri-lanka;jsessionid=4AC8FCEAFE70794624EC38E125BD0AE9.tomcat2date
date accessed 11
January 2012 (Political History)
20 Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), Country profile of Sri Lanka, last reviewed 9 December
2011, http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asiaoceania/sri-lanka;jsessionid=4AC8FCEAFE70794624EC38E125BD0AE9.tomcat2date
date accessed 11
January 2012 (Political History)
21 Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), Country profile of Sri Lanka, last reviewed 9 December
2011, http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asia-
19