'Lanka still in defensive mindset'

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

Sri Lanka must come out with a new set of offensive strategies changing from the defensive strategies since the environment is completely different today, Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka Director Dr Haren Disa Bandara said.

Addressing a seminar on 'post war capital market in Sri Lanka and the future' at the Central Bank Training Institute in Rajagiriya, he said, the country is on a different paradigm after one year of peace.

"But still the country is executing plans which were prepared under the war mentality.

"This is the time that the country should come out with a set of offensive strategies. There is a huge growth potential for the investors and it is necessary to have educational programs to regenerate investor confidence," he said.

Elaborating on positive signs during the post war period Disa Bandara said that abilities of listed companies has enhanced, and the country should have more listed companies in the market.

Sri Lanka has only 235 listed companies which is negligible compared to the number of listed companies in other countries in the region.

"Therefore foreign investors should enter this market. Also there are unlisted companies performing better than listed companies and they must be made listed companies.

There is a growth of 200 percent in brokers transactions now but there are only 21 brokers in the market.

Another five applications out of twelve have been shortlisted to register as stock brokering companies.

Seven brokering companies have already opened branches in Jaffna and Vavuniya. Market expansion in rural areas, market development and awareness creation, HR component to double at earliest to create more employment opportunities are some of the other initiatives taken by the Government in the recent past.

Dr Disa Bandara said the country should re-think about banks and capital market like other countries who generate infrastructure projects through capital market.

"Sri Lanka does not have an idea on risk. Therefore people must be educated and they should think on risk return trade off instead of depending only on savings.

The banking sector should talk about constraints on financing and there should be a mechanism to start projects through capital market," he said.