Sri Lankan stock market hits record high amidst rising COVID-19 infections
Over the past four weeks, Sri Lanka’s wealthy have become 739 billion rupees ($US3.8 billion) richer through a 25 percent rise in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).
Last week alone, major players in the CSE amassed 318 billion rupees, an increase that dwarfs the 109 billion rupee rise for the whole of 2019.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
The spike in Sri Lanka’s small share market occurs amidst an exponential growth of COVD-19 infections. As of yesterday, confirmed cases have increased 20-fold since October, to more than 60,000, and deaths by 26 times, to almost 300. The CSE rise has been accompanied by growing poverty, rising unemployment, wage cuts and a higher cost of living.