Browsing by Author "Abeyrathne, R.M.D.H."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Buddhist Economic Philosophy as a guideline for country oriented Economic Growth
(Proceedings of the Undergraduate Research Symposium (HUG 2019), Department of Economics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya. Sri Lanka, 2019) Abeyrathne, R.M.D.H.
Buddhist Economics is a branch of Buddhist philosophy originated in India 2500 years ago. Initially Buddhism was known as a religious study based on spirituality and the middle path known as (medum piliwetha) is the prescribed way towards the ultimate intention of acquiring the redeem (mokshaya). Economics is the study of economic behaviour of man who is considered to be rational in making decisions. It deals with how to maximize the profit and utility when the gievn resources are limited and fixed. The presumption is that immaterial human needs exceed material resources. At this point, the dilemma arises whether Buddhism influences Economics which focuses on local wellbeing. Therefore, this study focuses on the potential factors accelerating and influencing modern Economic targets. Buddhist teachings are for both ordinary lay man's wellbeing and for the spiritual wellbeing seekers. Accordingly, Lord Buddha has admonished on consumption (C), savings (S) and investment (I) patterns which is discussed under modern economics using theories like simple production function (Y=C +S), Harrod Domar theory and Rostow's growth theory. Eventhough sustainable development concept, equal rights for women, green concept and happiness index are newly introduced concepts for Economics, the old Buddhist teachings have shed sufficient light on these vital factors. Despite the major belief that Buddhism makes the economic man a lethargic man, E.F. Shumarshar in his notorious book "Small is Beautiful" points out the depth of Buddhist influence on modern Economics. In furtherance of this study, secondary data resources such as relevant and approachable books, magazines and reliable websites will be referred and a comparative study will be done depending on the previous Buddhist Economic concepts and modern Economic theories.
The Impact of Economic Development on Poverty Reduction in Sri Lanka
(4th National Research Conference on Applied Social Statistics, Social Statistics Students’ Association, Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Abeyrathne, R.M.D.H.
This paper attempts to investigate the impact of economic development on poverty reduction in Sri Lanka in the context of achieving the first sustainable development goal (SDG) “No Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere”. Development is a multifaceted process of achieving economic, social and political wellbeing of people. The Human Development Index (HDI) for Sri Lanka in 2017 marked 0.77 points and the 76th place from 189 countries. It is an appreciative position in the South Asian region. Thus, development is measured concerning education, life expectancy and health status and contribution to GDP. Western province including commercial capital Colombo contributes 42.8% to the GDP in 2012 and it is the least poor province in the country. The least GDP contribution (3.7%) is by North province in 2012 which is recorded as the poorest province in the country. As usual western province marks highest contribution to GDP in 39.7% in 2016 while North province remains the least contributor by 4.2%. As a result, western province (39.7%) Central province (10.5%) that claims larger portions of GDP, claim higher benefits from development process. According to 2008, World Bank report, Western province including Colombo is an upper middle income country and the rest of the country is a lower middle income country. Therefore, the provinces with less contribution to the GDP remain underdeveloped areas that lack health and educational achievements. The sectoral analysis depicts poverty as an issue related to estate sector due its continuous large figures. In 2009/10 partial poverty is 5.3% in urban sector,9.4% in rural sector and 11.4% in estates. In 2016, urban and rural sectors have minimised into 1.9% and 4.3% respectively. Although reduced into 8.8% in 2016 estate sector still marks the highest figure. Therefore, encouraging private enterprises in urban sector, improving educational levels and employment choices in estates, facilitating loans and provide guidelines for SME can be suggested to reduce poverty in order to achieve increase partial contribution to the GDP. When each province contributes to GDP in an equal approach, the distribution of benefits will assure a comfortable life standard devoid of poverty
The impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in Sri Lanka
(Department of Geography, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2020) Abeyrathne, R.M.D.H.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of controlling ownership in a business in a country by an entity based in another country. It contributes to transfer tangible and intangible assets such as technology, capital, knowledge and managerial skills, etc. FDI is the main driver of economic growth and sustainable development especially regarding Least Developed Countries (LDC). Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030 include Decent Work and Economic Growth as the 8th goal which can be accelerated by attracting FDI. In 1977 the open economic reforms invited Foreign Direct Investors to Sri Lanka. Thus the Board of Investment and island-wide free trade zones started regulating and monitoring FDI activities in Sri Lanka. Later, welfare economic reforms resulted in a dual gap issue of the savings-investment gap and export-import gap which in return caused the continuous budget deficit. Consequently, FDI is used to fill the dual gap problem and also for investment purposes. But the impact of FDI on economic growth in developing countries changes due to country specific factors. Therefore, this study attempts to identify the impact of FDI on economic growth measured by Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and identifying the impact of domestic investment, trade liberalization, inflation, human capital and population on GDP for the period of 1978-2018 in Sri Lanka. The analysis is based on the time series data collected from secondary resources like reports of central bank and the Census and Statistics Department. The multiple regression analysis indicates that FDI has a positive and statistical impact on economic growth in Sri Lanka. But the previous studies revealed that the causation is from the GDP to FDI.