By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University. Professor  Ricardo Hausmann of Harvard, Sri Lanka’s Economic Advisor, has come up with a remedy to boost economic development. Sri Lanka can fast-track growth, diversify exports and create new jobs by reforming immigration laws to permit know-how and skills to enter the country:…To get there, Sri Lanka will […]

by Garvin Karunaratne  I can remember the days when, on all my visits to Polonnaruwa, Hingurakgoda and Valachenai I was trailing behind lorry loads of straw. . Then the roads were narrow and a straw  loaded lorry  with bales jutting out could not be overtaken. That was in the Sixties. I was a frequent visitor […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. The prime need of the Commonwealth countries, the home to a third of the World’s population, today is economic development in terms of alleviating poverty, creating employment, in short, to bring about development. According to the ILO, almost 43% of the global youth labour force is still either unemployed or working […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I am a product of both Universities- Colombo and Peradeniya, entering Colombo in 1950 and ending at Peradeniya in 1954. In the initial period, called the Golden Age, our University did shine and it held personages like Dr Malalasekera and Dr Ediriweera Sarathchandra, who I think were in a super class, inspiring […]

By Garvin Karunaratne The formation of a National Economic Council(NEC) to attend to national planning, the establishment of the Grama Shakti Programme to combat  poverty alleviation and the rebuilding of Irrigation Tanks on a massive scale, is a development to be heralded. It is essentially a move in the right direction. It was way back, […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I am a product of both Universities- Colombo and Peradeniya, entering Colombo in 1950 and ending at Peradeniya in 1954. It is true that in the initial period, called the Golden Age, Peradeniya did shine and it held personages like Dr Malalasekera and Dr Ediriweera Sarathchandra, who I think were in a […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Our country is at the crossroads, saddled with an international debt that cannot be sustained, corruption going through the roof and the people suffering, unable to make ends meet. The situation is extreme. It is ,my opinion that there is yet a way ahead. Our International Debt. Chandra Maliyadde, a former Permanent […]

Garvin Karunaratne Author of How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle/Godages) Cyprus, a fertile land As fertile as Califoni Fruit trees fully  laden, all varieties,  all over, But all coastal areas, ALL GONE Parcelled into bits, sold to foreigners, Realtors everywhere Selling-enticing strangers to buy- Do bring in  foreign exchange We make you a citizen Do […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Inflation- Rising Prices is a major concern today. Sri Lanka had built up the infrastructure to control inflation. What we are seeing today-unbridled inflation, has been caused because we  did away with the infrastructure we had. For the marketing of essential commodities, in my own words: The Department for the Development  of […]

Garvin Karunaratne The GramaShakti Programme initiated by President Sirisena is intended to alleviate poverty that has become a severe threat to the country’s economy, especially to the rural economy. It is a flagship development programme in line with the vision of President Sirisena for a sustainable Sri Lanka, with a robust economy, free of all […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I enclose a Paper I wrote way back in 2008 detailing what has happened to Zimbabwe, to illustrate how the Superpowers strangled Mugabe. This provides the background to understand  what is currently happening in Zimbabwe. The conclusion deals with what was happening to the economy of Sri Lanka in 2008. That also […]

by Garvin Karunaratne( Ph.D. Michigan State University) When my first book exposing the sinister actions of the IMF: Micro enterprise Development: A Strategy for Employment Creation and Poverty Alleviation in the Third World: The Way out of the IMF Stranglehold was published in 1997, a full half a decade before the Argentina Crisis of 2002, […]

By Dr Garvin Karunaratne In my paper, ‘Dry Zone Drought and Empty tanks: A Blessing in disguise?’(Lanka Web 28/7/17), I had highlighted the plight of the small tanks in the Dry Zone, the bulwark our ancient forefathers had built up to enable the Dry Zone to become the Granary of the East. It has so […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, former CAS . The decision of the Hon President of Sri Lanka to concentrate on developing the economy of Sri Lanka is very timely and it is hoped that this will usher hope for the very large majority of people who are today eking a hand to mouth existence. Our Hon. President […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Former Government Agent, Matara District July 28, 2017, 9:42 pm The plight of the dry zone farmer and the depleted water in the tanks has come to centre stage again. It is July. The dry zone had little rain in April. July and August are the driest months. Once in a decade […]

By Garvin Karunratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University The Sri Lankan economy is truly in the doldrums. The BBC has recently in a spate of news broadcasts, derogatorily questioned: Is Sri Lanka Up for Sale.”(28/5/2017). This was preceded on 26 th June 2017, by another news item, A Country Trapped in Debt”. Their  Is Sri Lanka […]

Garvin Karunaratne Former Government Agent, Matara It is reported in the past Sunday Times  that we are getting sand from overseas as far as the Philippines and Indonesia.(Sunday Times) I wonder why. We have ample resources of sand. Having worked in over half the Districts in Sri Lanka and having done islandwide circuits over the […]

Garvin Karunaratne HLD Mahindapala  in his Paper, How Many Homelands do the Jaffna Tamils need, quotes Historian Arsaratne who states that there was a Jaffna kingdom in 1325. This is incorrect. The evidence is that when the Portuguese did attack Jaffna the king of Kandy who ruled entire Sri Lanka sent his army headed by Mudliyar Atapattu […]

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University Former Government Agent, Matara District. 12/5/2017 The Garbage Disaster The garbage pile at Meetotamulla erupted, took the lives of 32 or more and we are in complacency- now, we are talking. There are piles of Garbage at various places and some authorities state that they will not explode.  I […]

By  Garvin Karunaratne Ph.D. Michigan State University Former SLAS, Government Agent, Matara In the Seventies, the IMF took on the new role of prescribing the  path to be taken by the Third World countries to run their economies. This was the Structural Adjustment Program the IMF  foised on  every country that sought financial help. In the […]

by Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Centre for Global Poverty Alleviation, London I am reproducing a paper written and published one and a half decades ago which shows that we have never learned from our.  mistakes.  I highlight the fact that even at this late hour when our economy is in tatters, our leaders will concentrate on building […]

Garvin Karunaratne When I visited the Mollipotana monk the first time in January 2014 the temple was desolate. It was in the morning at around ten. The  Bo Tree, the small place of worship was  all bare of human beings. The Awasa, the residence of the monks was also desolate and I dared to move […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is reported that the IMF is recommending the Sale of a few of our Assets- the Colombo Hilton, Lanka Hospitals, Hyatt Hotel  and Waters Edge -all to bag $ 1.5 billion to solve today’s economic crisis. What really happens is that this $ 1.5 billion will be paid to our creditors […]

By Garvin Karunaratne The  President of the United States, Donald Trump has declared that America will change course. It is America to Produce and for the Americans to Buy American Products. This of course is a policy that has been ignored by the multimillion dollar multinationals whose craze for profits made them move factories to […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph D. At this very moment 2500 or more of the world’s most influential people are gathered in Davos, Switzerland   to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world. This Economic Forum  is committed to improving the state of the world”. It is ironical that the USA, the most important and influential […]

By Garvin Karunaratne In my endless travels in countries in three continents, the only country where wind turbines have been continuously sited in the coastal areas happens to be Sri Lanka. In Lanzorette in theCanaries, firstly the authorities built two turbines on the coast, but later they realized their mistake and built up dozens of […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D Michigan State University Former Government Agent, Matara District, The IMF has in its recommendation to the Government on Sri Lanka in their evaluation to grant the second tranche- $ 1.5 billion stated  that they could not in good conscience” release the funds unless the Government passes the VAT increase to 15%. (Daily FT, […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Firstly the Kidney Disease, then the Dengu and what I think is coming over the horizon- is Arsenic. No one upto now has stated that the third,  Arsenic is on its way. But signs are there and unless immediate action is taken it will take a major toll. Both the Kidney Disease […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Former Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services at Nuwara Eliya Government Agent, Matara   Kotmale, a Valley of great beauty and charm, where our celebrated poet Wimlaratne Kumaragama once lived, The hallowed residence where he penned verse after verse When he was DeeArrOoo is no more. The waters of the Kotmale River took it all. […]

By Garvin Karunaratne On my recent travel to Snowdonia in Wales, I happened to visit the Corris Industrial Unit.  What was most interesting was a Mini Distillery using many ingredients, including an array of spices, turning out special alcoholic drinks I kept wondering  what I could have done if I had known this mini Distillery […]