ABSTRACT
The roots of Sri Lanka’s ongoing privatization programme can be traced to the policies of nationalization and the establishment of state enterprises under the left-of-centre political regimes of the pre-1977 period. These policies were supported by import substitution measures and direct government involvement in industry, trade and finance. Consequent to these policies, the size of the public sector amounted to nearly 24 per cent of GNP by 1977 (Karunatilake 1987, Kelegama 1993, and others).
