Sri Lanka has the worst record among South Asian countries in blacklisting corrupt contractors in public procurement, according to a new report by Verité Research. The first issue can be attributed to gaps in the procurement guidelines of 2006, which govern almost all public procurement in Sri Lanka — except in a few instances such as pharmaceutical procurement. Sri Lanka has provisions not only to blacklist defaulting contractors, but also to publish their names in a public, online database. In fact, one of the key IMF recommendations is to enact a public procurement law in Sri Lanka that reflects international best practices by December 2024. The report by Verité Research, titled “Backwards in Blacklisting: Gaps in Sri Lanka’s Procurement Framework Enable Corruption”, is available on the Verité Research website – https://www.veriteresearch.org/publication/sri-lanka-procurement-corruption-gaps/

Source: The Nation February 18, 2024 04:19 UTC