Sri Lanka, Feb. 26 -- By Indika Hettiarachchi
Sri Lanka is a capital staved nation urgently in need to boost private investment to catalyze economic development. In such background it is rather an unusual move for Sri Lanka to increase Capital Gain Tax ("CGT") to 30% from 10%. This will place Sri Lanka among countries with highest CGT applicable for private market investment, and is expected to have a dampening effect on investment activities in the country. This will not only discourage local corporate investment but also likely to reduce Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI").
Sri Lanka's Colombo Stock Exchange has less than 300 listed companies out of total over 22,000 registered companies and represent a very small share of the overall eco...