An island-wide survey on public opinion on Sri Lanka’s current economy shows close to 60% of Sri Lankans claim they will consider migrating to another country if they were given an opportunity.
Among them, a majority of Sri Lankans prefer migrating to East Asian countries, mainly Japan and South Korea.
With regard to the country’s debt, most Sri Lankans (37%) believe that China would assist Sri Lanka in overcoming the economic crisis.
Almost one-fourth of Sri Lankans (24%) are of the view that India would assist Sri Lanka and 14% believe Japan would assist Sri Lanka to overcome the economic crisis.
A majority of Sri Lankans (61%) approve of the government approaching the IMF to overcome the country’s economic crisis.
Three-quarters of Sri Lankans (75%) believe that IMF assistance will enable Sri Lanka to overcome the current economic crisis.
The survey findings highlight that a majority of Sri Lankans trust Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Governor of the Central Bank (57%) to do the right thing in resolving the current economic crisis.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the Finance Minister is the second most trusted (45%), whilst Dr. Harsha de Silva as the Chairman of the Public Finance Committee (COPF) is the third most trusted (43%) by Sri Lankans.
The report presents the topline findings of the ‘Economic Reform Index’ survey conducted by Social Indicator (SI), the survey research arm of the Centre for Policy Alternatives.
This island-wide survey examines public opinion on the current economy, and economic reforms discussed over the past few months and was conducted from 21 October to 31 October 2022.
Full report: https://www.cpalanka.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ERI_Topline-Report_ENGLISH_FINAL_PRINT_30.11.2022_@11.30am.pdf (NewsWire)