The World Bank announced, last Monday (July 1), that Sri Lanka has rises to the ‘Upper-Middle Income& category from the ‘Lower-Middle Income& under a revision to the Gross National Income (GNI) classification thresholds .
According to the World Bank data, Sri Lanka GNI per capita has increased from USD 3,840 in 2017 to USD 4,060 in 2018.
As per the new classifications, upper-middle income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita between USD 3,996 and USD 12,375.Low-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of USD 1,025 or less in 2018, lower-middle income economies are those with a GNI per capita between USD 1,026 and USD 3,995 and high income economies are those with a GNI per capita of USD 12,376 or more.Under the new categorization, Sri Lanka is in the upper-middle income bracket along with 59 other countries also including China, Russian Federation, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico Fiji, Cuba and Brazil.
Argentina, Georgia and Kosovo too have been newly upgraded to the status of an upper-middle income country along with Sri Lanka.
According to the World Bank classification, 31 countries have lower income economies and 47 countries have lower-middle income economies.
Eighty countries have been qualified to the high income economy group.