July 2024

Easing Sri Lanka’s Fiscal Burden. Who Needs a State Pension?

The recent economic crisis has highlighted the need to address weaknesses in Sri Lanka’s economic policies forlong-term structural change. One significant issue is the financial burden of public sector pensions. The Public Services Pensions (PSP) is the largest pension scheme for permanent public sector employees in Sri Lanka. However, its non-contributory nature has become a critical burden on the country, wherein pension benefits are funded directly from government revenue, supported by general taxation. With around 700,000 public sector pensioners,this...

February 2023

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis leaves elderly homeless and penniless

When Kiri Banda retired from his job as a cook in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, he hoped for a peaceful old age living with his son. But with his medical bills straining household finances last year, he decided it was time to move out. “I didn’t want to be a burden,” says Banda, who spends his days begging or searching for food and sleeps on a bench in a public park. It is an increasingly common sight since Sri Lanka...