23rd Annual K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust Awards Ceremony ‘‘All Sri Lankans want to see Sri Lanka becoming Singapore’’ - Dhananath Fernando, CEO Advocata Institute

Guest speakers at the head table at the 23rd Annual K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust (KSMT) Awards Ceremony, which was held on March 10, at the Bank of Ceylon Auditorium. From Left: Anton Arumugam (Vice President DFCC Bank), Halin Hettigoda (President APB), Dhananath Fernando (CEO - Advocata Institute) and Nathan Sivagananathan (KSMT - Chairperson)  (Pix by Nimalsiri Edirisinhe)

This event was a testament to the consistent efforts of the APB and KSMT to uplift banking education in Sri Lanka

Dhananath Fernando, Chief Executive Officer of Advocata Institute, said that if Sri Lanka maintains a steady economic growth rate of 8% the country could reach a state that Singapore has achieved in about 64 years. He made these comments when as the keynote speaker at the 23rd Annual K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust (KSMT) Awards Ceremony which was held on March 10, at the Bank of Ceylon Auditorium. Fernando affirmed that the real problem with Sri Lanka is that it isn’t growing and developing and underscored why growth is important and why the nation must schedule all its reform plans on growing the economy.

Fernando delivered the annual memorial oration under the theme, ‘from crisis to comeback’. He mentioned, “We had a 30-year-long war, we had a tsunami, we had a Central Bank bond scam, we had a drought in 2016-17, we had Easter attack, we had Covid, and we had an economic crisis,” and added that the real problem was absence of growth and development. 

“And then I did a small calculation because all Sri Lankans wanted to see Sri Lanka becoming Singapore. And according to the calculation if we grow at 3% growth, last year it was predicted to be 5%, we will become Singapore in 105 years. If we are lucky and grow at 5%, it will take 64 years. If we grow at 8%, which is a very aspirational target, it will still be 41 years and it will be 2064 that we will become like Singapore.

“The good news is most of us will be alive if we become Singapore, but not in this life cycle. Maybe if you believe in another life, life after death, we will all be. But I think it doesn’t mean that we should give up on this dream.

“We should fight for it and we should do all what is possible to get there. Maybe it will not be in 2064, but at least we should lay the foundation and in this speech, in this oration I would like to focus on the foundation that we need to do. This was the calculation even if you look at Malaysia, let’s forget about Singapore, even if we grow at 8%, it will take about another 17 years to become what Malaysia is today.

“And why growth? Because I know there’s concerns about poverty and how the growth can be filtered down to the bottom level of the pyramid. But economic growth, results in everyone’s betterment and growth too. And it was John F. Kennedy who said, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” said Fernando.

This annual oration is organised by the Association of Professional Bankers (APB) in collaboration with the KSMT, in collaboration of the late K. Sivagananathan, who rendered a yeomen service to the banking sector of Sri Lanka and worked towards uplifting one of the country’s foremost financial institution, Bank of Ceylon. His selfless pursuit in enriching financial education in Sri Lanka, led to his strenuous work with the APB and Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL), in taking Sri Lankan financial education on par with international calibre. 

Nathan Sivagananathan, KSMT Chairman, fondly reflected on the dream of late K. Sivagananathan which was to endow students with  the financial and banking acumen required to excel in the banking sector. Moreover, he also touched on the role played by the APB as a partner of KSMT over the past 23 years. 

During the event, 45 students who had excelled in the diploma programmes during the previous year, 2024 were awarded with cash prizes and certificates. These awards were distributed by the Keynote Speaker Dhananath Fernando, President of the Association of Professional Bankers Halin Hettigoda, Vice President of DFCC Bank PLC Anton Arumugam and KSMT Chairperson Nathan Sivagananathan. 

This event was a testament to the consistent efforts of the APB and KSMT to uplift banking education in Sri Lanka, which they have admirably achieved over the course of 23 years.