Reducing gender gap boosts Sri Lankan economy

World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer concluded a three-day visit to Sri Lanka on Friday with a commitment to work with public and private sectors to create the space for women to access work and remain at work. Evidence suggests that Sri Lankan women are excelling in higher education and outlive men, but they are not part of the workforce. This comes at great cost to economic growth, he said according to a media release issued by the World Bank.

During the visit, Vice President met with the President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera, State Minister of Finance Eran Wickremaratne, Mayor of Colombo Rosy Senanayake and Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy. He also interacted with community groups, project officials, private sector, development partners, civil society groups and completed a field visit to learn about a planned project to mitigate flood risk in Colombo. On the last day of his visit, he participated in an exhibition and awards ceremony for female photographers at the Colombo Municipal Council.

“Getting more women into jobs is not only a development imperative, but there’s also a strong business case,” said Mr. Schafer highlighting Sri Lanka’s achievements in human capital development and economic growth amidst challenges and risks. “Sri Lanka specifically could grow its economy by as much as 20 per cent in the long-run by closing the gender gap in the workforce,” he emphasised quoting data from an IMF study.

During meetings with the PM, Minister of Finance and the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Schafer discussed the Government of Sri Lanka’s reform agenda. He congratulated the Government’s achievements in reforms and moving up to the top 100 rank in the Doing Business index.