Cigarette Smuggling in Sri Lanka: Hype vs. Reality
In the run up to elections, Sri Lanka is once again witnessing various news activities highlighting how the government is losing revenue due to increased consumption of illicit cigarettes and beedi. However, the wider government policy on tobacco control is aimed to reduce smoking rates and the related direct and indirect costs – which was estimated to amount to 6% of government revenue in 2015 – through taxation. This blog argues that although controlling the availability of illegal cigarettes in the market is important, this should be done through regulation so that both legal and illegal cigarette consumption remains low in the country.
World No Tobacco Day: Where Does Sri Lanka Stand?
On World No Tobacco Day, this article by G. D. Dayaratne examines the negative health issues caused by smoking, as well its impact on productivity levels of the workforce. In this context, the article discusses the effectiveness of measures taken to reduce the demand for tobacco by certain countries, including Sri Lanka.
Demystifying Hawala/Undiyal – The Not So Dismal Science:[…] believed that informal fund transfer operations in Sri Lanka have expanded considerably due to the wide gap between the…