Sri Lanka, July 7 -- The World Bank last week upgraded five countries - Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Jordan and Micronesia - from lower-middle to upper-middle income category. This is the second time Sri Lanka achieved this important milepost in the recent past.

Although Sri Lanka came under the same World Bank income classification in 2019 for the first time, within a year it again sank into the previous lower-middle income group of countries, due to the shortsighted economic measure including the massive tax cut announced by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government in December 2019.

Given the political culture of the country, the latest upgrade of the country by the World Bank might have discouraged the Opposition parties, which have ...