COLOMBO: Sri Lanka expects a US$ 100 billion market capitalization by 2020, the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday.The island had US$ 24 billion market cap end 2014 which accounted for 36 percent of the GDP.We would like to see our market capitalization reaching US$ 100 billion by 2020,” SEC Chairman Nalaka Godahewa said.
Since the Central Bank is predicting a US$ 150 billion economy by that time, US$ 100 billion market capitalization would mean a market cap to GDP ratio of about 66 percent. “
The SEC expects the corporate debt market growing to about US$ 20 billion by 2020. “We like to see at least 33 percent of the working population of the country involved directly or indirectly in the capital market,” Godahewa said.
By 2020 we like companies in this industry to grow at least four times and our wish is to support them,”Yes, these targets are ambitious. But we believe that we need to aim high and work harder with commitment if we were to compensate for the time the country has lost due to the 30 year long conflict.”Speaking of how to achieve the target Godahewa said it was reasonable to estimate that the organic growth of the existing market would increase the market capitalization to US$ 55 billion by 2020, with the current growth rate of the economy and performance of various industries.
