Premium
OUTWARD‐ORIENTED POLICY REFORMS AND INDUSTRIALISATION IN SRI LANKA
Author(s) -
ATHUKORALA PREMACHANDRA
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1759-3441
pISSN - 0812-0439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1759-3441.2007.tb01021.x
Subject(s) - industrialisation , liberalization , economics , enthusiasm , sri lanka , development economics , state (computer science) , international economics , economic system , market economy , economic policy , psychology , social psychology , socioeconomics , tanzania , algorithm , computer science
This paper examines the industrialisation experience in Sri Lanka following the outward‐oriented policy reforms initiated in 1977. The reforms helped transform a primary product exporting economy into one in which manufactures dominate exports. The improved performance of the economy is seen in significant terms of trade gains, improvement in output growth, and employment generation, with a notable shift in labour absorption in favour of workers belonging to low‐income families. Were it not for the civil strife and inconsistent macroeconomic policies that existed during much of the post‐liberalisation period, the economy would have performed even better than it did. The experience over the past two decades makes a strong case for a firm commitment to an export‐led growth strategy while guarding against possible policy backsliding emanating from the newfound enthusiasm for state activism.