Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka
Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka
Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka
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Executive Director’s Overview<strong>2005</strong> marked two decades <strong>of</strong> operation <strong>of</strong> the IPS – fiveyears (1985-1989) as a project and 15 years (1990-<strong>2005</strong>)as an <strong>Institute</strong>. The <strong>Institute</strong> has made significantprogress over the two decades to become the apex body <strong>of</strong>economic policy research in the country. <strong>2005</strong> was also a year <strong>of</strong>consolidation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Institute</strong>’s research and supportprogrammes and minimizing all expansion activities. Thisdeliberate policy was put in place to make the requiredadjustments for the phasing out <strong>of</strong> funding from theGovernment <strong>of</strong> The Netherlands in 2006. The <strong>Institute</strong> becamefinancially autonomous from Dutch funding in early 2006.The adjustment <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Institute</strong>’s activities to face the newenvironment also led to streamlining <strong>of</strong> Research Units. SomeUnits had to face transition-related difficulties, in particular,the Health <strong>Policy</strong> Programme and the International Economics<strong>Policy</strong> Unit consequent to the departure <strong>of</strong> some senior researchstaff members. Despite these set-backs, the <strong>Institute</strong> movedforward with its regular programmes intact and attracted a number <strong>of</strong> new projects that were in line with itscore research programme.The core research work was dominated by tsunami rehabilitation and related issues. The <strong>Institute</strong> releasedtwo reports on the tsunami during the year and one report was launched by the Hon. Prime Minister inDecember. The main focus in the IPS-State <strong>of</strong> the Economy <strong>Report</strong> in <strong>2005</strong> was also on tsunami rehabilitation.The institute attracted 24 new projects and completed 15 projects during the course <strong>of</strong> the year.Eleven publications were brought out during the year and with the two issues <strong>of</strong> the South Asia EconomicJournal (which is jointly produced with RIS, India), 13 publications were released. This is a record numbercompared to previous years. Two publications were on key areas <strong>of</strong> macroeconomics where hardly any researchhad been done for many years, viz., national accounts and input-output tables — the latter was the first properdocumentation <strong>of</strong> such tables after 1970.The <strong>Institute</strong> organized six workshops during the year, on the post-MFA experience <strong>of</strong> South Asian countries(jointly with FES, Colombo), MIMAP <strong>Annual</strong> Conference (with the International Development ResearchCentre, Canada, University <strong>of</strong> Laval, Canada, and De La Salle University, Philippines), post-tsunami recoveryissues (jointly with ADBI Tokyo), two on WTO and South Asia (with CUTS, India), and bilateralism andWTO-plus conditions (with UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo). The MIMAP conference was the largestever conference organized by the <strong>Institute</strong> where 130 delegates from overseas participated. The IPS has nowacquired the logistical strength and administrative capacity to organize major international workshops/seminars without any difficulty.Training <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Institute</strong>’s staff took place as during 2004. The IPS has always valued its human resourcesand thus gives priority for training despite financial constraints. The regular in-house and book review seriescontinued during the year which is detailed out in this report. By these in-house events, the <strong>Institute</strong> gives thetraining to the junior staff for public presentations and writing academic papers.3__________ <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2005</strong>