World Bank says SL recovery remarkable, among fastest worldwide

 

• Latest World Bank public finances diagnostic says SL made remarkable recovery
• Stabilisation sharper and faster than 123 countries since 1980
• Says Sri Lanka can move to a more balanced fiscal policy
• Points to fiscal space to grow revenue to support growth, equity and fairness
• Challenge is to get better results from every rupee collected and spent

The World Bank yesterday said Sri Lanka has made remarkable strides in stabilising its economy, undertaking one of the largest fiscal adjustments in its history, equal to nearly 8% of GDP over three years, and doing it faster than most countries.

In a statement announcing the release of its latest diagnostic title ‘Sri Lanka Public Finance Review: Towards a Balanced Fiscal Adjustment’, the World Bank said that this adjustment was also sharper and faster by international standards when compared with more than 330 similar efforts in 123 countries worldwide since 1980.

The review, a core World Bank diagnostic conducted every five years in member countries, concludes that Sri Lanka is well-positioned to focus on making public finances work better for all Sri Lankans.

“While fiscal measures helped restore stability, they also put pressure on households through higher indirect taxes and reduced real public-sector wages, and slowed growth due to lower public investment,” the statement said. “The next phase of fiscal calibration should prioritise raising revenues in ways that support growth and fairness, and improve the quality of government spending.”

The diagnostic review highlights that Sri Lanka could increase revenue by up to 2% by 2029 without undermining growth or equity. It also points out that better targeting and management of public spending can deliver improved outcomes within current budget limits.

The review recommends raising revenue more fairly and efficiently by shifting toward direct taxes, such as a minimum corporate income tax, and digitising tax administration to make paying taxes easier and more transparent.

It also recommends spending smarter, not more or less. The report stresses that it is not feasible to further cut or increase overall spending, but the best gains will come from using existing funds more efficiently to get better results.

This includes improving public sector wage management by protecting essential frontline services, simplifying pay structures, and modernising systems through which public sector workers are paid. It also entails reprioritising capital investments to close infrastructure gaps, completing ongoing projects faster, and strengthening project selection, management and maintenance.

Enhancing social protection by better targeting assistance, expanding the social registry, and moving from universal subsidies to more focused support for those who need it most, is another priority.

“Now that Sri Lanka has largely stabilised its economy, the challenge is to get better results from every rupee collected and spent,” said World Bank Division Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka David Sislen. “This means modernising tax administration, focusing on direct taxes, and making sure public spending is both efficient and fair, especially for the most vulnerable,” he added. World Bank says SL recovery remarkable, among fastest worldwide | Daily FT

Read More........ → February 17, 2026

Study Shows Vaporizing E-Waste Makes it Easy to Recover Precious Metals at 13-Times Lower Costs

– credit Alexandre Debiève

By instantaneously heating electronics to 3,000°C via an electrical current, scientists have found a way to extract decent grades of precious metals without creating hazardous waste.

According to their analysis, relying on e-waste for a precious metals supply could be 13-times cheaper than mining them from the ground. However, previous methods have involved throwing this or that broken gizmo into a furnace powered by copious amounts of energy while also releasing toxic substances into air.

By contrast, “flash joule heating,” a way of using electrical currents to vaporizing the valuable metals from the materials that hold electronics together is between 80 and 500-times more energy efficient.

One 2008 study calculated that one ton of mobile phones without batteries contains about 130kg of copper, 3.5kg of silver, 340 grams of gold, and 140 grams of palladium.

Those totals, if assayed as part of a drilling survey at a mine, would be considered world class results in the 99th percentile of grades.

Most open pit mining operations will run at a rate of between 0.5 and 1.8 grams per-ton gold and 100 to 180 grams per-ton silver. Some 40 million tons of e-waste is produced annually, so some simple mathematics reveals the potential economy to be found in harvesting e-waste for metals—a process termed “urban mining” by scientists.

Scientists at Rice University shredded a printed circuit board for their experiments, and mixed it with carbon black as a conductive additive. Once in the flash joule chamber, the current applied is so high that the precious metals, like rhodium, copper, and gold, turn briefly to vapor, while the carbon-based components like the plastic, are carbonized. This same process has been used to turn plastic into diamonds.

Mining companies for base and precious metals use a variety of patented recovery processes to separate gold, zinc, or nickel from the ore body.

Just like in mining, additives enhanced the recovery percentage of the metals from their vaporized form, including halides or fluorine-based substances. These brought the recovery of rhodium up to greater than 80%, and palladium to 70%. Bleach and other chlorine-based compounds brought the silver recovery rate up to greater than 80% as well.With the prices of these metals skyrocketing of late, new and cheaper supplies will be crucial to ensure important industries remain intact and competitive. Study Shows Vaporizing E-Waste Makes it Easy to Recover Precious Metals at 13-Times Lower Costs

Read More........ → February 16, 2026