The military junta that runs (and ruins) the poverty-striken African country of Niger has hatched the brilliant idea of raising some special telecoms taxes. Niger, says Cellular News, is one of the world’s poorest countries and currently has a phone penetration of just 23 per cent. So a few extra taxes on the providers would presumably be just the thing to speed up more personal infrastructure development like palatial houses, SUVs even personal jets! You never know. Just remember – rulers know the best.
Adopting AI in Sri Lanka’s public sector with vision & caution: Insights from LIRNEasia’s Merl Chandana at AI Asia Summit ’24
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance public services and drive innovation within Sri Lanka’s public sector. At the AI Asia Summit 2024 in Colombo, Merl Chandana, Research Manager and head of the Data, Algorithms, and Policy (DAP) team at LIRNEasia, shared insights on how the government can harness AI effectively and responsibly.
Software failures and public funds: Monumental coding errors explained
In the world of technology, programming errors—whether stemming from minor oversights or fundamental misunderstandings—can have catastrophic consequences. From the tragic failure of spacecraft missions to the collapse of critical infrastructures, history is filled with examples where a simple bug or miscalculation triggered massive disasters.
Aswesuma to Prajashakthi: considerations for future social protection programmes
This article was carried in the Daily Mirror on 17 October 2024 on International Eradication of Poverty Day Poverty in Sri Lanka has increased significantly with the onset of COVID-19 and the macroeconomic crisis. LIRNEasia’s national survey in 2023 highlighted that 4 million people fell into poverty between 2019 and 2023, causing 7 million individuals — or 31% of the population — to live in poverty at the time.
1 Comment
Donald Gaminitillake
In Sri Lanka the breakdown is as follows
VAT 12%
ECL 2%
MSL(10% eff 11.72%)
NBT (3% eff 3.52%)
IDD levy on IDD (rs 2 per min)
Cess (2% eff 2.04)
TL (20%)
my last month mobile bill was 2138.29
taxes for this was 661.23
Total payable 2799.52
There is an excess of tax collection
another Wonder of Asia!!!