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Sri Lanka’s government education spending is the lowest in South Asia
In 2022, Sri Lanka’s government—both provincial and central—dedicated only 1.5 percent of its GDP to education, including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. This places Sri Lanka at the bottom of the list for education spending in South Asia. By contrast, countries like India, the Maldives, and Afghanistan invest over 4 percent of their GDP in public education, while Bhutan leads the way, allocating an impressive 8 percent. For the past 15 years, Sri Lanka’s education budget has remained stuck between 1.5 and 2 percent, while most other South Asian countries have steadily increased their spending. Despite Sri Lanka’s relatively strong educational outcomes, there's still plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to raising the quality of education and expanding access to higher education. Investing in education is crucial for building human capital, which fuels productivity and drives economic growth. Moreover, a strong education system is essential for tackling many of the social challenges the country faces today. Due to limited government revenue and spending constraints, the government may need to redirect funds from other sectors and prioritise its needs to increase the budget for education. You can explore the 2024 Budget allocations for each sector here. Let us know in the comments which areas you think the government could reduce spending on to improve education in the Sri Lanka.
Featured Insight
Sri Lanka’s government education spending is the lowest in South Asia
In 2022, Sri Lanka’s government—both provincial and central—dedicated only 1.5 percent of its GDP to education, including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. This places Sri Lanka at the bottom of the list for education spending in South Asia. By contrast, countries like India, the Maldives, and Afghanistan invest over 4 percent of their GDP in public education, while Bhutan leads the way, allocating an impressive 8 percent. For the past 15 years, Sri Lanka’s education budget has remained stuck between 1.5 and 2 percent, while most other South Asian countries have steadily increased their spending. Despite Sri Lanka’s relatively strong educational outcomes, there's still plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to raising the quality of education and expanding access to higher education. Investing in education is crucial for building human capital, which fuels productivity and drives economic growth. Moreover, a strong education system is essential for tackling many of the social challenges the country faces today. Due to limited government revenue and spending constraints, the government may need to redirect funds from other sectors and prioritise its needs to increase the budget for education. You can explore the 2024 Budget allocations for each sector here. Let us know in the comments which areas you think the government could reduce spending on to improve education in the Sri Lanka.
Featured Insight
Sri Lanka’s government education spending is the lowest in South Asia
In 2022, Sri Lanka’s government—both provincial and central—dedicated only 1.5 percent of its GDP to education, including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. This places Sri Lanka at the bottom of the list for education spending in South Asia. By contrast, countries like India, the Maldives, and Afghanistan invest over 4 percent of their GDP in public education, while Bhutan leads the way, allocating an impressive 8 percent. For the past 15 years, Sri Lanka’s education budget has remained stuck between 1.5 and 2 percent, while most other South Asian countries have steadily increased their spending. Despite Sri Lanka’s relatively strong educational outcomes, there's still plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to raising the quality of education and expanding access to higher education. Investing in education is crucial for building human capital, which fuels productivity and drives economic growth. Moreover, a strong education system is essential for tackling many of the social challenges the country faces today. Due to limited government revenue and spending constraints, the government may need to redirect funds from other sectors and prioritise its needs to increase the budget for education. You can explore the 2024 Budget allocations for each sector here. Let us know in the comments which areas you think the government could reduce spending on to improve education in the Sri Lanka.
Featured Insight
Sri Lanka’s government education spending is the lowest in South Asia
In 2022, Sri Lanka’s government—both provincial and central—dedicated only 1.5 percent of its GDP to education, including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. This places Sri Lanka at the bottom of the list for education spending in South Asia. By contrast, countries like India, the Maldives, and Afghanistan invest over 4 percent of their GDP in public education, while Bhutan leads the way, allocating an impressive 8 percent. For the past 15 years, Sri Lanka’s education budget has remained stuck between 1.5 and 2 percent, while most other South Asian countries have steadily increased their spending. Despite Sri Lanka’s relatively strong educational outcomes, there's still plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to raising the quality of education and expanding access to higher education. Investing in education is crucial for building human capital, which fuels productivity and drives economic growth. Moreover, a strong education system is essential for tackling many of the social challenges the country faces today. Due to limited government revenue and spending constraints, the government may need to redirect funds from other sectors and prioritise its needs to increase the budget for education. You can explore the 2024 Budget allocations for each sector here. Let us know in the comments which areas you think the government could reduce spending on to improve education in the Sri Lanka.
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Complying with the Right to Information Act on foreign financing is important, and foreign lenders can help
Large infrastructure projects of the government are often financed by foreign loans and grants. When the amount exceeds USD 100,000, the law requires information about the projects to be disclosed to the public online. However, compliance wi...
2024-09-03
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Is Maldives going down Sri Lanka's path?: Maldives is increasingly finding it difficult to cover recurrent expenditure.
Since 1983, Sri Lanka has faced the continuous challenge of its revenue falling short of covering recurrent expenditure. As highlighted in
2023-08-17
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How did Sri Lanka Finance Government Expenditure in 2022?
Total government expenditure for the year 2022 amounted to LKR 4,472 billion. Out of which total revenue and grants could only cover 45% of spending while the remaining 55% was financed via borrowings. The infographic below provides a breakd...
2023-05-15
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Infrastructure Watch Dashboard: Research Methodology
What is Infrastructure Watch dashboard?
2022-05-17
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Central Bank of Sri Lanka Six Month Road Map – Have the said goals been achieved ?
In October 2021, the Central Bank governor announced a six-month road map to ensure macroeconomic and financial system stability. 14 Goals that had a verifiable quantified target were selected and tracked to identify if th...
2022-04-06
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Physical Progress and Fund Utilization of the Large and Mega Scale Development Projects
Completion of development projects funded by public funds within the stipulated period for the delivery of planned benefits to the general public, as well as the start of future initiatives based on the outputs of completed projects, is iden...
2022-01-10
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Provincial Council Receipts and Expenditure in 2020
The finance commission makes an annual recommendation on the allocation of funds required to meet the needs of provincial councils to the government. The Western Province has the highest absolute value, and the North Cent...
2021-11-02
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Fiscal Performance From January to April ( 2020 Vs 2021 )
Latest figures from Ministry of Finance shows government revenue and grants has increased marginally by 1% during January to April 2021 compared to the same period last year. Total Government expenditure has increas...
2021-07-19
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Strengthening Parliament Critical for Credible Budgets
Previous Insights on Sri Lanka’s budgets showed considerable variation between publicly declared budget allocations and actual expenditure on line items. This gap can create a credibility proble...
2013-12-31
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