The government’s Budget 2026 proposal to subsidise part of plantation worker wages raises questions on fairness, employer responsibility and accountability. Arutha’s latest brief analyses the impact and practicality of this proposal.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva’s claims on the timeline of Sri Lanka’s sovereign default its seeking support from the IMF is inaccurate.

The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) has expressed support for the 2026 Budget’s proposed daily wage increase for plantation workers, while urging clear implementation and wider structural reforms.

“In some ways you want a boring budget,” says Yolani Fernando, an ex-Treasury staffer who now heads Arutha, a think tank. “On the fiscal side, this budget is boring. That's a good thing. It means there is policy continuity. The rest of it isn’t bold. You're staying on the track, going as fast as you were in the past. But that’s not going fast enough for seven percent growth.”

Is Budget 2026 bold enough for a 7% GDP growth target? Rehana Thowfeek analyses #Budget2026 from the lens of structural economic reforms covering tax administration, public sector, SOE and trade reforms.

අද අපි කතා කළේ නොවැම්බර් 7 වැනිදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට නියමිත 2026 වර්ෂය සඳහා වන අයවැය ගැන. මේ ගැන කතා කරන්න Neon සහ Arutha team එකත් එක්ක එකතු වුණේ මහාචාර්ය රොහාන් සමරජීව.

Executive Director of Arutha, Yolani Fernando spoke to Savithri Rodrigo on what to expect from this year’s budget. "People often see the reduction of subsidies as austerity, but, subsidies tend to be poorly targeted welfare.

Lessons from previous fishermen’s pension scheme as a new one is proposed

Rehana Thowfeek reflects on her visits to Australia’s Productivity Commission (PC) and Office of Impact Analysis (OIA) in this paper. She contrasts Sri Lanka’s opaque policymaking processes to that of Australia, which enforces a systematic method of policy development that prioritises stakeholder consultations, data and evidence and accountability.

Rojie Ekanayake explores the potential of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in addressing the long-standing issues in Sri Lanka’s public bus network, namely, poor safety, accessibility and comfort. Drawing on experiences from India and Pakistan, she highlights how BRTs, though promising faster and more efficient travel, can succeed only through careful planning and context-specific implementation.

සෞඛ්‍යය, අධ්‍යාපනය, පිරිසිදු කිරීම, යටිතල පහසුකම් වැනි සේවා වැනි බොහෝ සේවාවන් ප්‍රමාණයක් තීරණය කරන ගාමක බලවේගයක් වන්නේ මේ පළාත් පාලන ආයතනයි. එනමුත් මේ ක්‍රියාවලියේදී ඡන්දය ලබා දීමට අමතරව ඔබට සම්බන්ධ විය හැකි ආකාරය පිළිබදව ඔබ දන්නවද? ඒ අයවැය සම්පාදනය කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය තුලිනි.

In keeping with Arutha’s aim of sharing nonpartisan, accurate information and research insights, we have complied a series of proposals for consideration in the national budget for 2025. We believe that these measures would enable Sri Lanka to address urgent issues including revenue generation, inequality as well as the provision of essential goods and services to the public. The full list of proposals can be accessed below.

“Career & Care: Supporting Women Who Power Our Economies” is the first issue of the series, Arutha in Focus. This compilation features three articles written by Yenuli Ranaweera and Rojie Ekanayake, originally published in The Morning newspaper, that focus on women in Sri Lanka’s workforce. The articles discuss care work, labor force participation, and the challenges faced by women in the workplace.

Sri Lanka is fast approaching a Presidential Election against a backdrop of substantial economic challenges, including high living costs, complex debt negotiations, and a range of reforms. Presidential candidates and political parties have put forth several economic policies and campaign pledges aimed at addressing these urgent issues.

How has Sri Lanka fared 2 years since the worst economic crisis in its recent history? We compiled a list of the major policy developments in the country so far to see what has been achieved and where Sri Lanka maybe heading next.