Investors have shown great confidence in Lankan economy

Your special correspondent in his article on 25 July titled “Tragic policy making and ‘Wonder of Asia’: What happened and what’s in store?” takes great pains to portray Sri Lanka’s economy and the Central Bank in a very poor light. It is clear that his entire article is an attempt to tarnish the monetary authority’s credibility, since the article goes beyond normal norms of criticism and ignores all the positive areas of the economy.

However, fortunately this type of criticism may not have yielded the results expected by these critics, because investors who are investing real money, and not empty words, have shown great confidence in the Sri Lankan economy. This they have shown in no uncertain measure when they subscribed to the recent international bond issue of one billion dollars.

The fact that the bond had been oversubscribed 10 times, and it had been able to attract an interest rate which is much lower than the interest rates paid by many investment grade countries, shows that the Central Bank has been successful in overcoming all the efforts to create negative sentiments that some Sri Lankan analysts have been attempting to create, over the past several years! It is also clear that the policies of the Central Bank have delivered single digit inflation in our country for 42 months, an outcome that has never been achieved in the past. In addition, they have ensured that our financial system stays stable in a most difficult period in the history of the world. They have also been able to earn above average returns in all the funds managed by them.

When none of these significant achievements are even mentioned in a full-page article by a “Special Correspondent,” it is easy to understand what the correspondent’s motives really are. Dear Analyst, it is time you understand that you can’t fool investors anymore with one-sided articles.

A. Hewavitharana

Colombo