I’ve long been a keen observer of ‘Frontier Markets’, that is, markets which are considered too risky for most investors, due to their political instability or economic mismanagement/vulnerability. However, these markets sometimes provide the best returns. A case in point is Sri Lanka, whose Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) index has emerged as the best-performing stock… [Read more]
Now that Sri Lanka’s civil war is over and the Tamil Tigers’ leaders have been eliminated, President Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa will have to turn his attention to winning the peace. This may actually be harder than winning the war. For a start, the government will need to reintegrate the Tamil minority – of which more… [Read more]
The ongoing meltdown in Asian – and indeed global – equity markets begs the question, are there any safe havens? The good news is ‘Yes, maybe’. The bad news is that the ‘safe havens’ are Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, hardly the most stable of countries. Yet as of Wednesday, the Colombo Stock Exchange index was… [Read more]