Potential Challenges and Benefits of Information Technology and Economic Development in Sri Lanka

This chapter discusses the potential challenges and benefits of information technology and economic development in Sri Lanka by reviewing the awareness and readiness of the selected opportunities. This chapter also identifies the enabling factors and bottlenecks, and forecasts the future growth of ICT developments in Sri Lanka as a host in Asia. Furthermore, developing ICT, professional services, and offshoring opportunities should be a high priority for the development strategy of the country. This chapter presents the findings from the survey that assessed the potential for ICT in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an island state of contrasts in terms of its economic development and ICT capability. Research on a Web survey of government institutes revealed that 30% of ministries in the country do not have Web sites or may not have Web access since they are inactive. 38% of the ministries are still in the infant stage, and information available on Web pages is often little in content and limited to a few pages. Only about 17% of ministries offer interactive Web content, where users have access to regularly updated information, can communicate through e-mail, and can download government documents through the Internet. 15% of the ministries provide some online services to the citizens. Public- and private-sector economic entities do not develop Web sites in the local language; all Web sites are in English even though 80% of the population depend on their own local language. The majority in Sri Lanka do not speak English.