Sri Lanka plunges by 42 places in global perceptions index

• Sharp dip a reflection of the reality that the country went through when it announced bankruptcy and the resultant domestic turmoil and suffering of the people since April 2022

The global perception of Sri Lanka took a steep dive in the Brand Finance Soft Power Index falling from 73 to 115 position in the annual ranking, released in London recently.

The Global Soft Power Index is the world’s most comprehensive research study on perceptions of a country, surveying opinions of over 100,000 people across over 120 countries. Respondents representing the general public responded online during October-December 2022, from which an understanding on the influence that nations have around the world and how they can exercise that upon each other is obtained.

The nations are scored across several metrics which measure external perceptions of the country on business and trade, governance, international relations, culture and heritage, media and communications, education and science, people and values, sustainability.

Sri Lanka’s position has dropped sharply from the previous year, falling 42 places from 73 to 115, making it the country with the steepest decline in this year’s index. 

The individual soft power measures have also shown a decline pushing Sri Lanka’s rank to among the bottom 10 countries on the index. The lowest perceptions are observed in governance and international relations, where Sri Lanka ranks 118th and 120th out of 121 countries measured.

According to Brand Finance Chairman and CEO David Haigh this study is a reflection of the reality that the country went through when it announced bankruptcy and the resultant domestic turmoil and suffering of the people since April 2022. With the urgent need to rebalance the political, economic and social situation, he said, the country can change the way it is viewed and move it into positive territory. Sri Lankan State and business institutions however need to take cognisance of the factors that are most critical for this turn around, so it could regain the confidence to trade, do business and be attractive for investments among other global nations.

In this context, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) which is the national body of marketing in the country, is proactively engaging with Brand Finance to better understand the main factors of impact so it could direct key institutions to implement actionable initiatives.

UK headquartered Brand Finance, is a specialist brand strategy and valuation consultancy, which has been operating in Colombo, Sri Lanka since 2004.

Full report and methodology in https://brandirectory.com/globalsoftpower/download/