Sri Lankan Economic Sovereignty: Insights of Potentially Alarming Trends

This study attempts to examine Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic evolutions which could be potentially harmful to national economic sovereignty. The study was based on time series secondary data for the time period spanning from 1970 to 2016. The operational methodology adopted is a descriptive statistical trend analysis on macroeconomic variables such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income (GNI), Net Factor Income from Abroad (NFIFA), Exports, Imports, Current Account Balance and Foreign Debt. The findings of the study revealed that the adverse Trade Balance ever since the liberalisation of the Sri Lankan economy in 1978 has been behind much of the ill-effects resulting in heavy foreign indebtedness. Growing factor payments abroad as a ratio of GDP provides suggestive evidence of gradual weakening of national ownership of the Sri Lankan economy. The findings of the study indicate that the solution for such malaise possibly exists in policies anchored outside the hitherto adopted mainstream economic doctrine.