Malathy Knight

Economist. Research Fellow @VeriteResearch. Nature & wildlife enthusiast. Hobbyist photographer.

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

Still very relevant.
While SOE reform is critical, it is just as important that it is done right. Given the state of play, restructuring must avoid a number of potential pitfalls, focusing on three key considerations:  (i) Transparency, (ii) Competition, (iii) Timing.
https://t.co/1ifpwcQ6Oz

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

For 65 years, #SriLanka has tried to solve human-elephant conflict by confining elephants inside Protected Areas. 70% of them live outside.

In 2024, community-built fences cut elephant deaths by 20% and human deaths by 15%. In 2025, both rose again.

by Research Fellow Dr. @KnightMalathy & Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya.

Read: https://t.co/meAYJDNhGX

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

@TinkerbellNila @Namalkamalgoda 😡

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

"The problem is not the price at the pump. It is the price at the port".

A new column by Saliya Wickramasuriya - former CPC Chairman and Public Policy Fellow at @VeriteResearch with @NCdeMel and @Im_Anushan On why CPC is paying 13–15% above world market prices, and who is profiteering in the middle.

@FT_SriLanka

Read: https://t.co/JHrYj23xlN

#SriLanka

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

Sri Lanka's EPF is bigger than any bank in the country - nearly 15% of GDP. And yet it tells the people whose money it holds far less than any of those banks tell their customers.

Every private-sector worker in Sri Lanka is required by law to contribute to the EPF. They can't withdraw their savings at will, they don't get a say in how the fund is managed, and the only protection they have is the fund's own transparency.

Our new research brief benchmarks the EPF against listed companies, commercial banks, unit trusts, and international standards. It discloses less, in less detail, less often, and with less timeliness than all of them.

Full brief is here: https://t.co/DesXiL8q20

#SriLanka #EPF #Transparency #CBSL #Accountability #Economy

[Chaminda Dias @chami9539]

I visited the Aragalaya commemoration that took place over the weekend. Sad that I couldn’t go with the rest of my @GoodGovYaya group, but I am glad I managed to make it. Seeing the GGY board there, our little lion, photographs, memories... alongside the wider story of the Aragalaya was poignant and emotional.

People have spent years trying to minimize it, malign it, rewrite it, or reduce it to chaos and inconvenience and try to make it seen like some ridiculous foreign backed conspiracy.

But this was not nothing.

This was a unique moment in history where ordinary people rose up against arguably the most powerful Executive Presidency this country has ever seen and forced political change.

It was not without tragedy either. Ten people lost their lives that day. Three families were compensated — the MP and two police officers. Seven others from the Aragalaya side received nothing. Those who lost homes and property compensated themselves, some fraudulently. Nearly 3,000 people still face cases and charges linked to that period, many for things that seem mundane, disproportionate. Resolving that would require political courage and a conscious national decision.

But despite all of that, the Aragalaya was also one of the most unifying and beautiful moments Sri Lanka has seen in my lifetime. I am proud that GGY carried on as long as we did... in many ways as a tribute act to what emerged at Galle Face. Proud that we kept speaking, questioning, pushing, and hopefully reaching a few minds along the way.

What disappoints me is that this government, more than any other political force, benefited from the political consciousness and mindset shift that the Aragalaya created. They went from being a 3% party to holding a two-thirds majority because the country fundamentally changed during that period but there is no viable effort from them to meaningfully join this effort to commemorate this event.

Which is why I genuinely hope that one day this will be officially recognized as a national moment of democratic awakening and commemoration... not erased, not politically sanitized, but acknowledged for what it truly was.

#SriLanka
#ApiAragale
#SystemChangeLK
#AccountabilityProjectLK

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

@Namalkamalgoda Beautiful ❤️

[Crisis Group @CrisisGroup]

NEW REPORT | Sri Lanka’s Bumpy Road to a Political Reset

Twin elections in 2024 transformed Sri Lanka’s political landscape, bringing to power a new government who pledged sweeping reforms. It has work to do to show it can do politics differently.

https://t.co/P3efWM19jA

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

Today, @VeriteResearch presents at the 9th Annual South Asia Conference 2026 at @DCU — " Turbulence, Transformation, and Resilience: South Asia in a Changing Global Order. "

📄 Dr. Nishan de Mel (@NCdeMel), Executive Director of Verité Research — "Crisis Fiscalism in South Asia"

📄 Raj Prabu (@R_R_Prabu), Lead Economist at Verité Research — "The Governance-Linked Bond: Reducing Risk and Expanding Democracy"

🔴 Presentations start at 8.45 PM Local time.

Join via Zoom 👇 🔗 https://t.co/h5RCXi5Srk
📋 Meeting ID: 899 3626 7998
🔑 Passcode: 07866

#southasia #governance

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

Check this out!!! https://t.co/wZjQlWDRqN

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

@HarshadeSilvaMP @flysrilankan SLA isn’t a “strategic” enterprise & shouldn’t even be an SOE. It’s been in the red for years. Selling won’t generate much revenue, but it’ll stem further budgetary hemorrhaging. Alternatively (if there are no buyers), SLA should declare bankruptcy & shut down.

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

@HarshadeSilvaMP @flysrilankan About time. This conflict of interest has been going on for way too long.

[Nishan de Mel @NCdeMel]

The fuel queues are not necessary. So why? and how to end them?

@VeriteResearch has three simple suggestion to improve coordination

1. Add a Timing Restriction on access
2. Reduce Frequency of access
3. Increase Volume per access

Read below to learn how this works

[PublicFinance.lk @PublicFinanceLK]

🔴 𝐁𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬

Several proposals in Budget 2026 lack expenditure or revenue estimates.

See why this is problematic 👇

#srilanka #budget2026

[Nishan de Mel @NCdeMel]

To keep pricing fuel on our cost recovery formula?
or not to--and give relief?

We hear this question a lot in #SriLanka with the global price shock triggered by war on Iran.

Good news! it's not a binary choice. Both are possible

1. Fully recover cost
2. Give relief to people

[Nishan de Mel @NCdeMel]

@theGayan @IMFNews Please check data/facts before you write Gayan.

data contradicts
- balance of payment issue
- liquidity pressure

factually
- non-liquidity fiscal pressure is eased by grants, not loans
- screenshot claim of surcharge not applying now is false; check imf doc published with loan

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

🔴 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚?

The government announced its monthly fuel price revision on 28th February, as global oil prices surged amid conflict in the Middle East.

However, the revision is based on international price inputs up to end-February, so it does not reflect the shock on 28 February. Hence, March prices have not shifted much due to that event.

As of end-February, the fuel formula price of Petrol 92 increased by LKR 8.79, but the market price was increased by only LKR 1.00. This means the market price, which was higher than the formula price in February, has dropped LKR 2.14 lower than the latter in March.

The fuel formula price of Auto Diesel increased by LKR 19.69, but the market price was increased by only LKR 4.00. Therefore the gap between the market price and the formula price has widened to LKR 16.96 in March.

The fuel price formula was designed by Verité Research as an estimate of a cost-reflective pump price, based on global prices converted to LKR and standard costs/taxes. For more on the methodology visit https://t.co/IjJZFnO1Ia

📘 For a deeper understanding of the prices and the formula, click https://t.co/PptwPu5nWu

@PublicFinanceLK

#SriLanka #fuelprice

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

🔴 Today marks 11 years since the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s infamous bond auction which triggered a series of irregular transactions, collectively referred to as the “Bond Scam.”

Yet, a forensic audit has still not been conducted to determine the losses it caused to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).

Here's the full story.

https://t.co/n2irKqGi8r

#SriLanka #Bondscam #11Years

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

🔴 Speaking at the @UN Conference of the States Parties to the UNCAC, Verité Research Research Analyst Michelle Handy from the Governance and Anti Corruption Team, explains how Governance-Linked Bonds can help countries address sovereign debt vulnerabilities while promoting anti-corruption reforms, and how these instruments can support States Parties in implementing their UNCAC obligations.

@UNODC

👉 https://t.co/U5pKdav4g4

#Governance #anticorruption #UNCAC

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

Taken by @Namalkamalgoda

[Malathy Knight @KnightMalathy]

A forgotten male leopard of Wilpattu, Pinikarvillu Male 2 #canonasia #s... https://t.co/jyBi1YDugl via @YouTube