Reforms & Issues Tracker

Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned from his presidency in July 2022, and Mahinda Rajapaksa from his Prime Minister position in May 2022

Both were the results of overwhelming public pressure and protest

Despite voting against going to the IMF in 2022 (in our opinion a harmful stance at the time) and consistently being against it, the NPP have since adjusted their stance on the IMF and are now actively making good progress on it with the IMF themselves acknowledging this while also acknowledging the difficulties the public face: "The macroeconomic turnaround is remarkable even as many households are yet to feel the impact"

Challenges achieved (by various parties and politicians):

• March 23rd 2022 - Approval by the IMF for a four-year, $2.9 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF)
• June 2024 - December 2024 - Completion of debt restructuring (basically)
• November 2024 - First $333 million released to Sri Lanka
• 2024 - Economic growth by 5%, outdoing IMF's forecast of 4.5%
• General Central Bank policy rate of 8% to align with IMF
• March 2025 - Japan and Sri Lanka signed a $2.5 billion debt restructuring agreement

Challenges still faced:

• Corruption - despite Sri Lanka's media landscape seemingly ignoring this point, and despite the status quo downplaying corruption, multiple IMF reports have repeatedly brought up corruption and "governance weaknesses" 

  

• Balancing IMF reform policies with social security
• Getting money and enough revenue, the crux of maintaining relations with the IMF and simultaneously being able to improve the economy while providing relief to the citizens lies in the government both a) actually addressing corruption and wastage and b) improving methods to get money

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa (yes him too) and Harsha De Silva have contributed to getting help from the IMF and actively worked with them

Note, we acknowledge the ideological debate surrounding the idea of a developing country depending on neoliberal policies and institutions like the IMF

Challenges achieved:

• $1 billion revenue increase from 2022-2023 with a total of $2.1 billion in 2023
• $3.17 billion revenue in 2024
• 2 millon tourists in 2024

Overall Sri Lanka is making good progress in reaching the revenue it achieved in 2018 ($4.38 billion)

Challenges to address:

• High operational costs and investment challenges
• Tourist quality issues (white's only parties, Israeli/Russian/Ukrainian war dodgers setting up illegal businesses which caused drama and terrorist warnings by foreign embassies, we believe these warnings were unprecedented and unfairly placed the blame on locals)
• Modernizing the industry to keep up with other tourist hot spots in Asia. Maldives in 2024 earned $5.6 billion while Thailand earned $51.5 billion and even Vietnam securing $33 billion. While Sri Lanka has had its fair share of challenges, for a country that places importance on tourism our revenue numbers (even pre-crisis) could be a lot better

We are listing this here as we are making decent progress when compared to the crisis, however, in a larger sense it can be argued that Sri Lanka has many challenges in the tourist sector that were prevalent pre-2019 (before the crisis and Easter Attacks)

While the fuel crisis has largely stabilized quite well, we still do not have a clear long-term plan on how to manage energy security to prevent fuel issues cropping up again

Progress

• Two $500 million credit lines from India directly for fuel in 2022, part of the other $3 billion India provided was also used for fuel
• Introduction of the National Fuel Pass QR code based app in 2022 to ensure fair distribution
• Stopped the CPC and Lanka IOC duopoly in June 2022 (pre-NPP) and allowed entry of foreign companies in to the market like United Petroleum, Sinopec, and RM Parks (in collaboration with Shell)
• Signed a deal with China in January 2025 to make a $3.7 billion refinery

Challenges

• Heavy reliance on imported fuel and as a result there is a lack of security if/when forex rates fluctuate
• Drama in the petroleum sector on March 2025 regarding the abolishment of a 3% commission to fuel distributors. This highlights  bureaucratic issues still present in the sector
• Many people still face challenges concerning the cost of fuel

Progress

• Inflation dropping from 73.7% to 5% by July 2023 and even as low as -1.4% in November 2024
• 5% GDP growth in 2024
• Securing the IMF bailout package in 2023
• $5.5 billion in foreign reserves by April 2024
• Relative LKR stability
• Govt revenue collection grew to 9.6% of the GDP in 2024, largely resulting from tax reforms
• Huge amounts of foreign aid
• Import crisis has calmed and restrictions have been lifted for many products

Challenges

• 24.8% poverty rate as of July 2024. Living standards for many Sri Lankans still remain significantly below pre-crisis levels
• Debt sustainability remains a concern with ongoing negotiations still needed with some creditors
• Slow recovery trajectory despite economic growth. Sri Lanka can compete with itself but can it compete with the world? Will we modernize our economy or simply return to pre-crisis stagnation?
• Imports are still limited despite the lifted restrictions
• Various issues that deserve their own article like brain drain, foreign investment fears, social modernization and shifting patterns in the labour markets

Let's be clear, the economy is NOT great and even pre-2019 had many issues. However, relative to the crisis its clear that economic stats show improvement in the economy

The Sri Lankan public are largely to praise for bearing the brunt of the responsibility when it came to stabilizing the economy as most measures the govt took largely revolved around either a) begging for money, b) shutting down the economy or c) imposing higher tax (thereby putting the responsibility on the public)

Despite reasonable efforts the health sector still faces challenges that can be significant in certain areas and were downplayed during the crisis

Progress:

• Health sector budget increased to LKR 604 billion for 2025, representing 6.7% of the GDP and overtaking the military budget
• Arrest of Keheliya Rambukwella in February 2024 for his involvement in a counterfeit drug scandal
• International cooperation and direct contributions to the health sector
  • India gifting injections in March 2025
  • $7.1 from WHO in 2022 specifically for the health sector
  • 500 million yuan ($74.2 million) from China as emergency assistance (a grant not a loan) 

Challenges

• Drug shortages still prevalent
• Brain drain - SL roughly lost 10% of its doctors due to the crisis, this issue alone could be its own article

A difficult topic and a difficult one to rank. We have placed this in "In Progress" as we believe there have been some specific efforts to bring about fresh investigations in to the crisis.  However if there are no concrete results by the end of the year we are downgrading this to "stagnant", we do not expect criminals to be in jail any time soon and investigations in to such a case are complex but we should have on-going trials with named suspects by the end of the year and not symbolic paltry fines

Progress:

• NPP govt explicitly states it has re-started Easter Attack investigations and has expediated it and have worked with the Archbishop of Sri Lanka and have confidence from the Vatican
• Maithripala Sirisena fined Rs. 100 million for failing to prevent the attacks (Pre-NPP)
• Pujith Jayasundara fined Rs. 75 million (Pre-NPP)
• Nilantha Jayawardena fined Rs. 75 million (Pre-NPP)
• Hemasiri Fernando fined Rs. 50 million (Pre-NPP)
• Sisira Mendis fined Rs. 10 million (Pre-NPP)

Challenges

• Greater punishment and jail time for Maithripala Sirisena, 270 victims died in the Easter Attacks which means that divided amongst the collective 210 million Rs. fines, the cost of each life is only Rs. 777,777 or $2,625 we believe this is an extreme perversion and insult to justice that doesn't even take in to account the economic downturn experienced by the tourist sector as a result. While Maithripala was only one instrument and likely a genuinely stupid pawn, his petulant child-like tantrums and lack of any semblence of governence brought down the country.

• Investigations as to why the government and political class were aware of the attacks beforehand with seemingly no single politician or their family member present at any of the popular attack sites in Colombo on that day and no prior warnings to the public. There is strong evidence to suggest that every single political party in parliament was made aware of this attack well beforehand both from local and Indian Intelligence forces

  

• Investigations in to the Rajapaksa's involvement and their apparent blocking of investigations

Progress on corruption so far:

• Abolishment of duty-free vehicle permits for MPs
• CIABOC arresting members of the SLPP and civilians for accepting and soliciting bribes totaling Rs. 30 million
• Reopening of Corruption Cases
• Auctioning off luxury vehicles owned by MPs
• Arrest of MP Chamara Sampath

Unclear

• Status on current cases - the current govt have loosely mentioned on numerous occasions that they have re-started investigations in to high-profile cases such as the bond-scam. Even Namal Rajapaksa was called to court but so far nothing has come out of all this
• Abolishing MP pension funds - there has been no update to this and MPs continue to receive their pensions, its unclear whether the govt aims to abolish MP pension funds completely or revamp them based on other countries' models (e.g. a contribution based pension where MPs have to actually contribute). Its unclear whether abolishing MPs pensions outright is actually even needed in the grand scheme of things.  On March 22 2025, AKD talked about this subject again indicating something is in the works: "Accordingly, we are expediting the introduction of a bill to abolish parliamentary pensions"

Challenges still not addressed:

• Multi-billion (not million) Rs. infrastructure projects - where the actual significant commission corruption happens and what we believe is one of the many elephants in the room
• Justice on previous corruption cases like the D.A Rajapaksa Museum case - a case that had already begun but stopped due to Gotabaya's presidential powers. There is no reason for cases like these to not have been re-started as they already had enough to work with

• No large scale reform projects aimed at sweeping corruption on a problem level. No clean progress on the CLEAN Sri Lanka initiative

   

Progress on corruption is mixed but in progress, while there have been some moves to shake up corrupt officials over multi-million Rs. issues the overall progress on a grander level (large multi-billion rupee infrastructure contractor commissions) is still in question. Anti-corruption was the core part of the NPP's campaign so if there is no significant progress on this in a year we will downgrade it to stagnant

In a nutshell, when politicians can get away with stealing up to Rs. 135 BILLION and the govt chooses to focus on cases that are Rs. 30 million we must ask if these moves are symbolic to appease people who can't tell the difference between 135 billion and 30 million

Previous govts have also not addressed this substantially with the "anti-corruption" bill that Ranil introduced feeling more performative (to look good for the IMF) and not actually enforced.

Challenges achieved:

Waiting 200+ days for daily 5h-10h+ powercuts to go away. The public bore the brunt of the responsibility when it came to stabilizing the power crisis. The Sri Lankan govt took no significant or noticeable actions to tackle the powercut crisis specifically - beyond waiting for other measures to stabilize and to literally wait the problem out while taking photo-shoots at power plants

June 2024 - Sri Lankan Parliament enacted the Sri Lanka Electricity Act, No. 36 of 2024, whether this will actually bring about results remains in questions

Challenges still present

• Like with fuel, weakened forex reserves and a weakened currency mean that any fluctuation will directly/indirectly have consequences for the energy sector
• Grid stability and infrastructure  continue to be a recurring issue as it was pre-crisis. In February 2025 an island-wide powercut occurred, regardless as to whether this was because of a monkey or poor management it still highlights the ongoing issues and ongoing powercuts the country faces

Note, this list does not include any Rajapaksas as they are in their own section

Progress so far:

• Arrest of Deshabandu Tennakoon
• Arrest of Anura Priyadharshana Yapa
• Arrest of ​Keheliya Rambukwella (pre-NPP)

Not addressed:

• Ranil Wickremesinghe's blatant violation of the constitution when he sent 200+ soldiers to forcibly remove peaceful protestors
• Ranil Wickremesinghe's involvement in torture and the highly questionable detention of political prisoners in Batalanda, an issue which has been extensively reported and is detailed in the Batalanda Commission Report
• Johnston Fernando's numerous  times he incited violence and his apparent involvement in highway corruption and numerous other financial corruption cases
• Maithripala Sirisena's gross negligence and treason during the constitutional coup and Easter Attacks, though he has been fined its a paltry form of justice considering the gravity of his crimes
• Ranil Wickremesinghe's gross negligence during the Easter Attacks
• Arjuna Mahendran's arrest for perpetrating the bond scam, as well as some sort of punishment/fine for Ranil Wickremesinghe's involvement in his appointment in the first place which was highly controversial and something the Presidential Commission itself has acknowledged regarding his failure to prevent financial misconduct
• Black July - the perpetrators are still roaming free in society and many are/were part of the status quo (this deserves its own article)
• Various ministers accused of various financial crimes including stealing state funds (most of these ministers have multiple cases that were either processed and mysteriously stopped or questionably acquitted, the links below are just examples of one case by each relevant MP):
  • Rohitha Abeygunawardena
  • Udaya Gammanpila
  • Mahindananda Aluthgamage
  • Wimal Weerawansa
  • Sajith Premadasa

Summary

Despite constantly hearing about drama and action there are still no concrete results we can point to outside of a few minor figures while the elephants in the room still consume the public's tax-money and brazenly pretend like there isn't a mountain of crimes and evidence behind them. The public didn't revolt because of Keheliya, they revolted because of the obvious heads of the status quo and their very obvious crimes

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was enacted in 1979 and originally intended to deal with the activities of the LTTE and essentially grants police very authoritative powers if there is a threat of terrorism. However, over the years, the law has been widely criticized for its broad and vague definitions of terrorism and has been abused and used to arrest innocent civilians

The NPP have explicitly stated that the government is prepared to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and introduce a new legal framework to prevent terrorism.

However, there have been no notable updates on this

Arrests so far:
Yoshitha
Namal
Daisy

Trials:
NONE

While various Rajapaksa members have been arrested there have been no concrete trials or updates on progress in seeking justice despite the NPP campaigning against the previous status quo's corruption and crimes. 

Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara was quoted as saying:

“Watch us over the next two or three months as we take action. You can then judge for yourselves whether the NPP government is following the old ways,”

However, as of May 2025, there have been no significant updates in to any of these cases

Just like Namal's arrest by Maithri in 2016 we should be cautious with the govt announcing arrests for good publicity while seemingly doing nothing in the long-run

We at Kaputa Express firmly believe there is more than enough evidence and judiciary material to proceed with these cases (which we will write about soon) and any excuses are deflections of justice and a waste of public tax money

“There will be no more executive presidents henceforth."

- Sunil Handunneththi, MP of NPP during the swearing in of Executive President AKD

Despite repeatedly making a point about they would abolish executive presidency, the current NPP govt have yet to touch this issue and have stayed frustratingly silent on the matter since coming in to power. 

We believe this is a no-brainer reform, either use executive presidency to get rid of the old status quos trenched-in bueurocracy or abolish it, to keep it in the air like this is not helpful and worrying, just like Maithri's campaign we must ask if they are serious about doing this

The "Online Safety Act" was enacted in January 2024 hastily as a means for the govt to limit freedom of speech on the public. The pretense by the govt was that the bill was to combat “hate speech,” “misinformation,” and “disinformation”, however the wording of the act is vague and is highly susceptible to abuse

From the Sri Lankan governments previous actions with the PTA and how little they seemingly care about misinformation/hate speech in general we aren't going to pretend to take this notion of "safety" seriously especially when it was introduced by a status quo whose political careers depended on minisinfo and hate speech

As of right now NPP have not repealed the OSA nor stated any intention to do so, it has been amended a few times but we believe this is a pointless waste of time and the act needs to be scrapped altogether. There is no clear reason for this to be delayed.