Most Sri Lankans believe the ‘general economic’ situation in the country has seen some improvements after the end of the conflict, a new survey has revealed.
In a survey on post-war democracy in Sri Lanka, the study conducted by Social Indicator (SI), the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) found 10.7% of Sri Lankans saying the general economic situation in the country has got a lot better while 38% said that it has got a little better. 15.5% believe it has stayed the same.
“However, 19.7% said that it has got a little worse while 16% said it has got a lot worse. In terms of the ethnicity of the respondents, it is mostly the Sinhala and Tamil who believe it has got a lot or little better, with the Sinhalese respondents being the most optimistic, when compared to the Up country Tamil and Muslim respondents. 57.1% of Up country Tamil respondents believe that the general economic situation in the country has got a lot worse in the last two years,” the study said.
The study focused on the economy and security two years after the war ended. The island-wide opinion poll was conducted in all 25 districts of Sri Lanka with face to face interviews with a sample of 2000 respondents.
“With regard to the future of the economic situation in the country, around 60% of Sri Lankans have a positive outlook about it as 21.6% said that it will get a lot better and 41.5% said that it will get a little better. 15.2% think that it will stay the same while 8.9% think it will get a little worse. 12.8% said it will get a lot worse. Again, it is the Sinhala and Tamil communities who appear to be more positive about the future of the country’s economic,” the study reveals.
On the general economic situation of the country aside and how does the financial situation in people’s households now compare with what it was two years ago, the study noted that when it comes to the financial situation at the household level, most believe it has not got better.
“19.6% said that it has got a lot worse while 21.7% said it has got a little worse. 3.7% of Sri Lankans believe it has got a lot better, while 27% said it has only got a little better. Most respondents from the Up country Tamil and Muslim communities said that the financial situation in their household has got a lot worse or a little worse when compared to two years ago. 58.3% of Up country Tamil respondents said it has a got a lot worse while 31.4% of Tamil and Muslim respondents stated the same,” it said. |
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