Index Commentary

Sri Lanka drops five places in the Index to rank 73 due to a worsening of energy security and environmental performance. A decrease in energy security is driven by a lower wholesale margin on gasoline and a lower ratio of production to energy supply, Sri Lanka’s weakest indicator. These downwards trends were however partly offset by a strong reduction in the 5-year energy consumption growth trend during the last year. Environmental performance is Sri Lanka’s weakest dimension (dropping from 35 to rank 82) which is overall driven by a low quality of air and water and high emissions from electricity and heat generation. Small deteriorations since last year are noted across all indicators. With very low energy intensity per capita, Sri Lanka thus underperforms in mitigating its environmental footprint compared to peer countries with similar levels of energy intensity per capita. Sri Lanka continues to struggle with social equity (rank 71) despite small improvements; 24% of the population remains without proper access to electricity. However, slight improvements in economic strength are driven by increased macroeconomic stability and a better political performance is supported by improved political stability and regulatory quality.