Sri Lanka to develop as financial hub
Sri Lanka looked to learn from the experiences of countries such as
Luxembourg, as it seeks to find its own niche and develop as a financial
hub in the South Asian region Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor Ajith
Nivard Cabraal said.
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Governor at
the round table discussion with Luxembourg Chamber of
Commerce members |
He said Sri Lanka’s hospitable climate for expatriates, liberal
policies on repatriation of funds and recent restructuring of the tax
base, would serve as attractions in this endeavour.
Governor Cabraal made these observations when he participated in a
round table discussion titled Investment and financial market prospects
in Sri Lanka, held at the Chamber of Commerce of Luxembourg recently.
During his visit to Luxembourg, the Governor met Luxemburg Central Bank
Governor Yves Mersch and participated in bilateral discussions with
senior officials of the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry.
The Governor who detailed the measures that had been adopted by Sri
Lanka to minimize the impact of the recent financial crisis, said Sri
Lanka could take much pride in that it had not permitted the collapse of
any banking institutions and had maintained a growth rate of 3.5 percent
in 2009 during the height of the crisis. None who had invested in Sri
Lanka’s market were prevented from repatriating their money, which
ensured that once stability was reached these funds returned to the
island manifold.
He said the continued recovery in the financial sector has supported
effective financial intermediation, ensuring improved performances of
financial institutions leading to improved asset quality, higher
profitability and higher capitalization levels.
In 2010 the Colombo Stock Exchange had also recorded the highest
growth in the world while doubling market capitalization. As a result,
the external outlook had improved substantially, with the country
graduating to ‘Middle-Income Emerging Market Country” status as
classified by the IMF and with its sovereign ratings upgraded by all
rating agencies over the past year.
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