Sri Lanka Prosperity Index increased in 2018 with improvements in all provincial prosperity indices

Sri Lanka Prosperity Index1 (SLPI), increased to 0.783 in 2018 from 0.548 recorded in 2017. All three sub-indices of SLPI, namely ‘Economy and Business Climate’, ‘Well-being of the People’ and ‘Socio-economic Infrastructure’ contributed to this increase.

Economy and Business Climate sub-index improved mainly due to price stability and increase in informal sector wages during 2018. With regard to the sub-index of Well-being of the People, major improvements were recorded in the aspects of health facilitation, quality of education, wealth of people and purity of the environment. Socioeconomic Infrastructure sub-index also increased slightly during 2018 mainly due to the improvements in availability of electricity, transportation, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities and pipe borne water quality.

Provincial Prosperity

Provincial prosperity indices, which were compiled to measure the level of prosperity across provinces, increased in all nine provinces. Western province led with the highest values of provincial prosperity index and its sub-indices. Meanwhile, the highest increase of provincial prosperity index was recorded from Sabaragamuwa province mainly due to improvements within its Economy and Business Climate sub-index driven by price stability and increase in informal sector wages.

Performance of Provincial Prosperity

Economy and Business Climate

Sub-index Economy and Business Climate sub-index increased in all provinces and improvements were recorded in price stability and informal sector wages. The highest increase within the sub-index was recorded from Northern province with improvements in employment aspects in addition to the factors mentioned above

Well-being of the People Sub-index

Well-being of the People subindex improved in all provinces predominantly due to improvements in the aspects of quality of education, purity of environment and wealth of people where vehicle ownership and access to supermarkets increased.

Sabaragamuwa province has recorded the highest increase within this sub-index even though the aspect of vehicle ownership has declined when in all other provinces an improvement in this aspect could be observed.

Socio-economic Infrastructure Sub-index

Socio-economic Infrastructure sub-index recorded increases in eight provinces. The improvements were mainly due to enhanced availability of electricity and ICT facilities. The highest increase within the subindex was recorded from Western province with improvements in road developments, transportation facilities, enhanced crime free environment and pipe borne water quality, in addition to the above factors.

Meanwhile, the deterioration of the sub-index in Eastern province was mainly due to the subdued levels of telecommunication facilities, road developments, crime free environment and female participation in civic activities.