Forum attracts UAE investors into Sri Lankan market

Bloomberg Data Services held an investor forum in association with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) on Tuesday, at the Ritz Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)

The gathering attracted over 100 institutional, high-net value investors and fund managers to be introduced to the value share for investing in the capital market of Sri Lanka.

‘Daily Financial Times’ reported that many leading companies from Sri Lanka participated in the forum and the keynote address was delivered by Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Sarath Amunugama.

Presentations were also given by the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and Chairman of CSE Krishan Balendra.

Dr Sarath said, “This century belongs to Asia and Sri Lanka will play a key role as a fast-growing, emerging economy."

"Its unique geographical location will make it an attractive investment location for investors in many industries. The educated and high quality workforce, fast developing infrastructure and the investor friendly policies will be key attractions.”

Dr Nalaka said, “Sri Lanka’s economy has been doing very well in the recent past which is reflected in the performance of the fast-growing capital market.

Over the last 12 months, the market has grown by 36.49 percent. Our target is to see the market capitalization increasing by three fold over the next three to four years."

He also added that by 2016, when the country’s GDP reaches US$ 100 billion, Sri Lanka would like to see the capital market contribution to be around 50 percent.

In order to sustain growth and to achieve its targets, Sri Lanka has introduced a 10 point action plan, one of which is attracting more foreign funds into the market.

Four investor forums have been planned by the CSE in collaboration with the SEC in key international financial hubs this year.

The first investor forum was held in Mumbai, India and will be followed by two more in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The forum was strategically held in Dubai with the objective of giving UAE based investors the opportunity to capitalize on Sri Lanka’s positive economic growth route with Dubai surfacing as a financial hub.
 

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