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Letter:
The Stock Market and the people
The media, particularly the press, has allocated much space to
highlight the ills of the Stock Market in Sri Lanka and the presumed
calamity and chaos that has been caused by the sudden resignation of
Chairman Tilak Karunaratne, who was known to the public not as an expert
on the regulating the Stock Market but as a politician as he was the
head of the JHU. The same fate had befallen the previous head, Ms.
Indrani Sugathadasa, a previous Secretary to the Women and Children's
Ministry.
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Colombo Stock Exchange |
It is indeed ironical that so much attention is placed on the Stock
Market which is the playing field of the rich and powerful and
patronized by less than five percent of the population.
The majority of the Sri Lankan people do not understand the Stock
Market, cannot ‘play around with it’ as they do not have surplus cash to
do so. They prefer to put their hard earned savings or any surplus
monies in a reputed bank and get a regular interest however modest it
may be. Certainly there is interest and concern in relation to the
numerous dubious finance institutions. The Stock Market is definitely
beyond the reach of retired public servants like myself.
I would think the same is so for most people even in the private
sector except the CEO's and other top people in such institutions with
plenty of cash to spare. It is the rich who keep wanting to get richer,
while most of us are focused on trying to make ends meet.
Today, even the top banks mainly cater to the rich who are able to
borrow large sums of money and are able to get their loans wiped away
because of political clout. This is a particular malady in state banks.
There was exposure of this sometime ago. Much noise was made by
Opposition politicians and the media, but now all is forgotten and the
misdoers have got off free.
Sri Lanka needs a competent, well qualified and experienced CSE
chairman who understands how the Stock Market operates, and should
operate and be well regulated. We do not want a person who 'runs' to the
press when there are problems he cannot handle, and eventually, the
President and the Secretary to the Treasury.
- Ananda Perera
Rajagiriya |
