The Advocata Institute event on “ The Role of International Trade in Economic Recovery in Sri Lanka” The Advocata Institute launches its second episode of the public policy discussion series ‘DeepDive’, which will be on the Topic “The Role of Trade in the Economic Recovery of Sri Lanka”. The discussion was kickstarted with a primer.
Advocata Institute launches tool to track everyday food price changes lankabusinessonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lankabusinessonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bath Curry Indicator Launched
Advocata Institute launches a novel policy tool to track everyday food price changes
Advocata’s latest policy product tracks the average retail prices of a basket of goods and provides an indication of how much prices have changed over time. With the use of such tools, anyone including policymakers and politicians alike has access to track price fluctuations. This could enable anyone to see if policies have direct or indirect effects on food. Which is an essential item and can have a direct impact on the food consumed by households. The indicator launch was held at the Tulip Hall of the BMICH on the 7th of April 2021 and was live-streamed on Advocata’s Facebook and YouTube.
Food inflation has risen over the last year, although the overall inflation is low. According to the National Consumer Price Index, overall prices rose by 3.7% between January 2020 and January 2021, but food inflation rose by 5.9%.
While this is a matter of concern to the public, items like turmeric and green gram, which made the news after rising to dizzying heights tend to steal the spotlight. While Sri Lankans appreciate a good plate of rice and curry, the cost of this essential meal is something that must be discussed.
‘Bath Curry’, or commonly known as rice and curry, is something that all Sri Lankans can immediately identify with. The ‘Bath Curry Indicator’ (BCI) by the Advocata Institute is a Sri Lankan spin on the infamous ‘Big Mac Index’ by The Economist. It simply tracks prices of a limited basket of goods that are consumed in Sri Lanka, and provides an indication of how much prices have changed over time.
Sri Lanka’s exorbitant taxes on sanitary napkins had the media spotlight over the last few weeks – this is not a new issue. In 2018, the total tariffs on sanitary napkins was over 101.2 percent. Since then we have seen some progress, with the tax being reduced from 101.2 percent to its current rate of 52 percent, a result of several tax revisions.
The 2020 budget revised down general duties for sanitary napkins to 15 percent and introduced a cess tax of 15 percent, causing an uproar in social media and in Parliament, leading to fresh calls for the abolition of these taxes.
Menstrual hygiene products are essential for girls and women and this issue has put the interests of these consumers who want more variety and cheaper products against the interests of the local producers who want larger margins. Since the initial uproar last week, there have been claims that the local brands account for 95 percent of the local market and therefore import taxes do not have a bearing on