Malathy Knight

The University of Manchester, IDPM: Institute for Development Policy and Management, Alumna

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Malathy Knight, a senior economist, is a Research Associate at Verite Research, Colombo Sri Lanka. Former Head of industry, public enterprise reform and regulatory research at the Institute of Policy Studies Sri Lanka, she has written leading studies in these areas and has served on many government commissions. Her specific areas of expertise include privatization and state-owned enterprise reform, telecommunications policy and regulation, competition policy, regulatory governance, and new institutional economics. Malathy is also a Fellow at the Centre for Competition, Investment and Economic Regulation in India. She has published in international and local journals and has a B.A. from Swarthmore, an M.A. from Colombo and a Ph.D. from Manchester.

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Papers by Malathy Knight

Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment 2016

by Janeen Fernando and Malathy Knight

Sri Lanka underwent a major political transition in 2015 with the election of President Maithripa... more Sri Lanka underwent a major political transition in 2015 with the election of President Maithripala Sirisena and the establishment of a new coalition government between the United Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) and one faction of the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA). The Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment analyses six spheres of contestation within Sri Lanka’s current political context, and assesses their impact in terms of securing peace and accelerating inclusive growth in the future. These spheres of contestation have been identified and classified along two axes: horizontal contestation and vertical contestation. The former deals with contestation within and between communities, while the latter deals with contestation between the Sri Lankan state and citizens.

http://asiafoundation.org/publication/sri-lanka-strategic-assessment-2016/

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Liberalization and Privatization: Telecommunications Reforms in Sri Lanka

What Type of Competition Policy and Law Should a Developing Country Have? 1

South Asia Economic Journal, Jan 1, 2004

Abstract This article addresses a crucial policy questionwhat sort of a competition law and poli... more

Assessing privatization in Sri Lanka: Distribution and governance

Reality Check: The Distributional …, Jan 1, 2005

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National Early Warning System: Sri Lanka (NEWS: SL), a participatory concept paper for the design of an effective allhazard public warning system, …

Privatization and regulation

Economic Policy in Sri Lanka: Issues and Debates New …, Jan 1, 2004

The institutional policy framework for regulation and competition in Sri Lanka

Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) …, Jan 1, 2002

The liberalization of the Sri Lankan economy in 1977 and the privatization of state enterprises i... more

Regulatory Impact Assessment in Sri Lanka: The Bridges that have to be Crossed

Paper to CRC- …, Jan 1, 2003

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Post-tsunami recovery: issues and challenges in Sri Lanka

Tokyo: Asian …, Jan 1, 2005

1. The tsunami of December 26 2004 left Sri Lanka with over 30,000 people dead, several hundred t... more 1. The tsunami of December 26 2004 left Sri Lanka with over 30,000 people dead, several hundred thousand displaced, and massive damage to infrastructure and capital assets (estimated at around US$ 1 billion (4.5 per cent of GDP)) particularly in tourism and fisheries sectors. The medium-term financing needs were estimated to be around US$ 1.5-1.6 billion (7.5 per cent of GDP). It is expected to reduce 2005 GDP by around 0.5 -1.0%. 2. With no previous history of such disasters Sri Lanka was quite unprepared for the tsunami. But with a massive community response followed by government and international action, it was able to implement an initial relief effort that, in the circumstances can be termed a success 3. Promised external assistance -a total of US$ 2.2 billion over the next 2-3 yearsappeared to be more than adequate to cover reconstruction costs in full. But problems have emerged with relief payments, providing credit facilities, distribution of funds, coordination of reconstruction activities, and mismanagement of funds. Clearly the reconstruction phase poses complex and difficult challenges. 4. Housing is the households' main concern. Reconstruction and repairs have been hampered by the 'no-build' coastal buffer zone, cuts to relief payments and cost increases. Progress has been slow, uneven, and concentrated in the south and southeast, though the worst affected areas are in the east and northeast. 5. Reconstruction spending produces a particular type of Dutch Disease' reflected in construction cost increases which have escalated rapidly (by 40-60% in some instances). Overall inflation, caused primarily by policy and exogenous factors, is rising, and may accelerate with election cycle spending, high oil prices and recently promised increases in government expenditures. This implies a major increase in funds required to fully meet construction targets in the private housing sector and in public infrastructure, implying a major funding gap. The government has limited options to address the funding short fall. Poorer households and public infrastructure reconstruction will be severely affected. 6. The report raise issues in the following areas and presents several related policy recommendations: livelihood related cash payments to households; assistance for rebuilding houses; titles to new houses; buffer zone rules; early warning and disaster management systems; coordination of donor assisted activities and macroeconomic policy issues. 7. A Rs 5,000 ($50) monthly grant -a modest sum that falls short of poverty line incomes for a household -was expected to be provided for about six months to all affected households. But this has been scaled back to four months, its scope reduced by tightening eligibility rules. This is inequitable and counterproductive. The grant should be paid to all affected households for six months using donor funds earmarked for livelihood assistance.

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Sri Lanka's Telecommunications Industry: From Privatisation to Anti-Competition?

Sri Lanka's telecommunications industry was profoundly transformed during the 1990s and became on... more Sri Lanka's telecommunications industry was profoundly transformed during the 1990s and became one of the most open and competitive among developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This was driven by a series of government initiatives to open up the sector to new entrants and greater competition. But after privatisation of the state-owned monopoly became a feasible policy option, and particularly after it was partially privatised in 1997, there has been an apparent shift in government policy away from its previous pro-competitive stance. This paper examines the evolution and present state of Sri Lanka's telecommunications industry, the regulatory policy framework, and pertinent competition policy issues in the sector, with particular attention to the apparent shift of government policies away from its earlier strong pro-competitive stance.

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An investigation of the replicability of a microfinance approach to extending telecommunications access to marginal customers

… Theme 3rd Cycle Discussion Paper WDR, Jan 1, 2005

This study is an attempt to examine and document particular sets of solutions that have emerged f... more