Srilanka, March 2 -- If Verite research says that the Government has a 62 percent approval rating, according to their surveys, and adds that 55 percent think the economy is improving, it appears doomsayers would necessarily have to take pause. Fitch Ratings too states something to the effect that the steps taken towards financial consolidation in the Budget are positive.

All this comes at a time there was Opposition and social media insistence that the economy was tanking. They said the Government messed up the rice issue, and they simultaneously decried ostensible skyrocketing prices across the board. It seems they were not aware that economic sentiment is a complicated subject.

The rice-issue is a single concern, though it is correct...