Convenes top corporate leaders to map out year’s investment outlook

Asia Securities’ Sri Lanka Investor Conference 2026 

Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja

Dumith Fernando

Krishan Balendra

• Over 150 influential investors gain insights on capital market opportunities

Leading investment services firm Asia Securities brought together corporate leaders, leading economists and over 150 investors at Sri Lanka Investor Conference 2026 themed ‘Rebuild. Digitise. Reprice’, held at Cinnamon Life recently, to examine Sri Lanka’s capital market outlook for the year.

The conference unpacked the economic shifts of 2025 and early 2026, the evolving interest rate and fiscal environment and sector-level opportunities through a series of presentations and panel discussions. It was an exclusive event for Asia Securities clients, representing some of the most active and influential participants in Sri Lanka’s capital markets.

The keynote address was delivered by economic policy expert Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Professorial Fellow at Gateway House in Mumbai, Senior Fellow at ODI Global in London and former Director of Research at the ADB Institute in Tokyo.

Dr. Wignaraja said the evidence does not point to a climate debt trap following Cyclone Ditwah and that cyclical growth of around 4 percent remains sustainable for 2026, although risks such as inflation are emerging.

The opening macroeconomic panel, ‘Rebuild: Boon or Bane?’, featured Dr. Wignaraja alongside John Keells Holdings Chairman and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Krishan Balendra and Asia Securities Chairman Dumith Fernando.

Balendra observed that the cyclone’s impact on business was far less severe than initially feared, with critical sectors such as agriculture, tourism, banking and exports only marginally affected. 

Building on his keynote remarks, Dr. Wignaraja said the International Monetary Fund programme has put in place a framework for prudent fiscal and monetary policy, debt management and institutional reform to address Sri Lanka’s chronic twin deficits. 

Fernando said fixed income rates are likely to remain benign, limiting major asset allocation shifts. 

The construction sector session ‘The Big Resumption’ featured Access Engineering Executive Vice Chairman Christopher Joshua and Tokyo Cement Group Director Innovations Praveen Gnanam.

Joshua said the construction sector’s contribution to GDP is expected to reach around 5 percent in 2026, supported by infrastructure projects already underway such as Central Expressway Section 1 and port developments, as well as upcoming projects including the new airport terminal and Central Expressway Phase 3, alongside Cyclone Ditwah reconstruction and other projects in the pipeline. 

Gnanam noted that the cement demand increased to 5.3 million metric tonnes in 2025, from 4.6 million metric tonnes in 2024 and that similar or faster growth is expected in 2026. 

The consumer sector was examined in ‘The Normalisation Catalyst’ panel, featuring Sunshine Holdings Executive Director and Group CEO Shyam Sathasivam, Hemas Holdings Group CEO Ashish Chandra and PepperCube Consultants Founder and CEO Atheek Marikar.

Sathasivam said 2025 was a year of confidence building for both the FMCG sector and wider economy, pointing to value migration in Sunshine Holdings’ tea portfolio and strong growth in premium confectionery products. 

Chandra said the FMCG industry recorded a 10 percent volume growth and a 15 percent increase in value over the past year, signalling a clear premiumisation trend. 

Marikar said around 35 percent to 40 percent of households currently earn more than they spend each month, compared with about 65 percent in 2015. 

The final panel ‘Playing the Long Innings’ focused on Sri Lanka’s digital outlook and included Dialog Axiata Group Chief Executive Supun Weerasinghe, Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka (PickMe) Founder and CEO Jiffry Zulfer and Surge Global Founder and CEO Bhanuka Harischandra.

Zulfer called for policies that enable digital entrepreneurship, affordable high-quality connectivity infrastructure and sustained efforts to nurture local talent while reintegrating talent lost through brain drain. 

Harischandra said technology adoption has expanded as younger generations have grown up immersed in digital tools and that the government has laid a foundation for a digital economy that will be difficult to dismantle.

The conference also featured a Macroeconomic Outlook presentation by Asia Securities Chief Economist Sanjeewa Fernando, who said Sri Lanka is moving toward a potential credit rating upgrade, supported by improving GDP, higher tax revenue and declining debt service relative to revenue. 

This was followed by an Equity Strategy presentation by Asia Securities Head of Equity Research Niroshan De Silva, who said corporate earnings are expected to reach new highs, with projected growth of 18 percent in 2026.

Digital outlook panel discussion

Macroeconomic panel discussion

Consumer sector panel discussion