Economic crisis, poverty and war in contemporary Sri Lanka - On ostriches and tinderboxes

Sri Lanka has recorded a fairly solid and consistent economic performance a nd since 1990 has pursued a far-reaching liberalisation programme fairly su ccessfully.. However, there is evidence that the economy has been slowly ru nning our of steam and of mounting disillusionment with the government and with the mainstream leadership more generally. Given also, the deterioratin g international environment and scale of human suffering from war, there ma y well be more turbulence in the future.