Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Sri Lanka: A Review of Literature

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project is one of the most dominant trade policies initiated by the Chinese government. It connects one hundred and forty-six countries occupying more than fifty per cent of the world's gross domestic product. Thus, BRI has become an indispensable perspective of forecasting trade performance between regions in the coming years. This study employs an evidence-based approach and critically evaluates the existing arguments on the BRI project and the possible strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of the project with special reference to Sri Lanka. Further, it attempts to summarize some key facts related BRI’s engagement in the regions such as the South-East Asia, Europe, Indo-Pacific, and the South Asia. The findings of the study discover the heavy domestic focus of the BRI objectives. Existing financial incompetence, lack of physical capital, and technology gap are the main motives for developing economies to engage with the project. Geopolitical repercussions, security problems, and the debt trap are the highlighted adverse impacts of BRI. Several developing countries like Nepal have adequately accomplished the BRI projects domestically. Sri Lanka has benefited from BRI in several aspects and experienced several difficulties in power rivalry, autonomy and independence, growing debt burden, transparency and corruption. The study concludes the higher potential of BRI to approach developing countries' growth-related shortages and the possibility of emerging geopolitical repercussions. Thus, it recommends implementing a practical government framework to manage BRI domestically. This study recommends governments to enhance transparency and accountability related to the project’s affairs, while maintaining economic feasibility and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, practicing a rational process for project selection and implementing efficient evaluation are recommended.