In 1977 Sri Lanka was the first of the South Asian countries to decisively move away from the protectionist import-substitution trade policies that for many years had damaged their economic efficiency and hobbled their economic growth. Albeit with back-tracking episodes, Sri Lanka's liberalising...

This paper surveys recent development in Sri Lankan trade policy, with an emphasis on emerging protectionist tendencies, using Sri Lanka’s Trade Policy Review (2010) by the World Trade Organization as a reference point. The Sri Lankan experience for over the three decades following the...