Sri Lanka has the potential to establish the green economy, especially by way of renewable energy, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing a High-Level event on Strategies and Actions to Accelerate Sri Lanka’s Transition to a Green Growth Pathway in Colombo on Monday (06).

He said further that the Sri Lankan Government prepared a Natural Adaption Plan and National Environment Action Plan to ensure a green economy and a better world by 2050.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Environment and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

A new Climate Change Act will be formulated while a new Environment Act will be drafted to replace the old one which will cover reforestation, forest cover and tree cover.

He also added that Sri Lanka is to be the first one in the region to recognize some of its assets as living entities. The Knuckles Range, Horton Plains, Peak Wilderness, the Sinharaja Forest, the Mahaweli River and Adams Bridge will be hence identified as living entities.

A Host Country Agreement was signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) progressing Sri Lanka’s climate action and further deepening Sri Lanka’s green growth development.

The agreement was signed in the presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Former Secretary General of the UN and the President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Ban Ki-Moon, this afternoon (Feb. 07).

The agreement was signed, enabling the Government and the GGGI to effectively plan and implement green growth initiatives in the country. It was signed at the Presidential Secretariat by the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment Dr Anil Jasinghe, on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government and by the Director General of GGGI Frank Rijsberman on behalf of the GGGI.

These initiatives include the implementation of the on-going National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and Readiness Support project, funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), to enhance capacity and institutions.

The project includes the development of provincial adaptation plans and the identification of climate adaptation investments to implement these plans.

Sri Lanka joined GGGI as a Member in 2019. Sri Lanka was elected as Vice President of the Assembly and Vice Chair of the Council of GGGI in October 2022. GGGI is hosted by the Ministry of Environment at the Climate Change Secretariat and Policy Planning Division.

GGGI is dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies.

It serves the role of an enabler and facilitator of Members’ transition into a low-carbon green economy, providing policy advice and technical support in the development of green growth plans, policies and regulations, mobilization of green investments, implementation of green growth projects, and development of local capacities and knowledge sharing.

The United Nations Development Program UNDP is set to support Sri Lanka in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Representatives of the United Nations Development Program said that Sri Lanka will be supported in achieving the country’s Sustainable Development Goals.

They stated this during a recent discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat about adding sustainable development goals to budgeting, the PMD reported.

The discussion was chaired by President’s Senior Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardena and President’s Adviser on Environment and Sustainable Finance Professor Ananda Malavitantri.

The United Nations Development Program, Resident Representative Azusa Kubota, Budget Consultant, Adviser Asif Shah, Integration Specialist Dulani Sirisena and Afraa Mohamed, Policy, Research and Engagement Assistant, were present at the discussion.

The rationale for integrating sustainable development goals into public financial management systems was discussed at length and the main benefits of development goals and budgeting were also discussed.

Attention was also paid to providing an effective basis for budget decisions with improved data to reduce fiscal space and fiscal gaps, assist government and donor negotiations by introducing efficient mechanisms to protect social sector spending, identify funding gaps and under-resource priorities to support effective targeting of resources.

Further, they focused attention on promoting policy coherence and assisting in getting more value for money from public investments, raising public awareness of government actions by ensuring transparency in public financial allocations to achieve sustainable development goals.

Its benefits such as providing a proper system for resource mobilization, and identifying priorities in the annual budget through sustainable development goals/climate/gender-based budget targets, were also discussed at length.

In addition, the practical problems arising within that process and how to prevent those problems were also extensively examined in this discussion.

The Government of Sri Lanka and UNDP in Sri Lanka have already launched the Sri Lanka SDG Investor Map (the Map), a market intelligence tool that seeks to direct private capital where Sri Lanka’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) priorities, Government policy and market opportunity intersect, as the country seeks to rebuild its economy sustainably, using the SDG framework as its guide. The methodology for the Map was created by UNDP SDG Impact.

Like many other countries, the Sri Lankan economy was also impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with GDP growth contracting with a significant slowdown in tourism earnings which is a key source of dollar income for the country.

Sri Lanka is building pathways to recover from its double crisis of sovereign debt and a balance of payment crisis, making it difficult to import essential items such as medicines, fuel and food. The current public debt is 140% of GDP and Sri Lanka’s plan is bring it down to less than 100% by 2032.

While Sri Lanka is pursuing an IMF program to stabilize its macro-economy and restructure its external debt, private capital, foreign direct investments, blended finance options and public-private partnerships, are all needed.

The SDG Investor Map will be of importance when channeling these funds to investments for social and environmental objectives- towards green development, women’s economic empowerment, social sector development

Business Confidence in Sri Lanka is expected to be 125.00 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts.

It has increased to 35 points in the third quarter of 2022 from 28 points in the second quarter of 2022, Central Bank data confirmed.

In Sri Lanka, the Business Condition Index measures entrepreneurs’ sentiment about current business situation and expectation about business conditions.

It includes Profitability, Skilled Labour Availability, Demand, Sales and Capacity Utilization. A value over 100 means business sentiment has improved and under 100 means business sentiment has worsened. The value 100 indicates neutrality.

A rise one more in the exclusive business barometer raises hope of better times,” said business magazine LMD, in its latest edition.

LMD continued: “The implications of Budget 2023 will occupy the minds of corporates as the new tax rates and policies kick in. But there’s been a sense of optimism in recent times, even as people acknowledge and realize that difficult times lie ahead for everyone, if the national economy is to recover and stabilize.”

“It is a relief to note that once again, the LMD-NielsenIQ Business Confidence Index (BCI) has climbed another nine basis points – from 89 in October to 98 a month later,” it added.

NielsenIQ’s Director – Consumer Insights Therica Miyanadeniya explained that: “as we approach the end of 2022, which was a turbulent year, expectations of better things to come in 2023 are high on the radar.”

LMD noted: “The barometer of business sentiment is now only 11 basis points shy of where it stood a year ago (109) and it is hoped the new year will see this cautious optimism intact. That said, the index is still well below March’s 132, the highest so far this year despite the advent of fuel shortages, power outages and the rupee’s demise.”

A spokesperson for LMD further stated that: “The jury is out on the pros and cons of Budget 2023, and we will know the verdict when next month’s survey gets underway in December – and we report on its results in the January edition of LMD.”

“And there are external risks such as the war in Ukraine and the prospect of a world recession in particular. Internally, the outcome of ongoing debt restructuring talks, coupled with renewed calls for an election by opposition forces, could lead to political instability in the new year,” she added.