Prez comments on listing SOEs unwelcome by industry
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent take on listing State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on the Colombo stock market is giving mixed signals in pivoting the country’s economic reform agenda.
Industry officials are quite upset about this noting that in any industry one needs controls and if the stock market hasn’t reflected what it should be, the regulator should step up.
“Many of you say, send it (SOEs) to the Stock Exchange. I have my questions about it. The Stock Exchange is today not identified with the London Stock Exchange. There are many questions about the Stock Exchange. That a few people control it, and a few people rig it. Now can I put any state enterprise shares onto that to help a few people?” the President told the inauguration of the Advocata Forum.
Industry officials who spoke to the Business Times in unison said that the responsibility of the government should be to increase the liquidity in the stock market and encourage more listings. “The stock market should not be criticised. If a small number of people are controlling it, the responsibility of the government and the regulator should be to counter this and increase the liquidity or make the market big,” a stock market analyst said.
The CEO of a stockbroking company said a few people allegedly controlling the stock market and that should not be bigger than the market or the government at large.
Another CEO said that while the president’s presumption is correct his reaction to it is not. He added that while listing these enterprises isn’t a panacea for all ills, it is certainly a good start to reform the battered economy.
A stock market analyst said that president’s comments really do not reflect the recent advanced developments in the market such as the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)’s digitalisation.
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