📈 SL 2026 Budget: Investor Demands Amidst Record CSE Rally

• The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) ASPI reaching all-time highs signals surging domestic investor confidence, driven by lower interest rates, improving corporate earnings, and optimism about macroeconomic stability. • Investors expect the 2026 Budget to translate this market confidence into policy credibility to sustain capital market momentum. • Key Domestic Investor Expectations: • Fiscal Consistency: Steadfast commitment to the agreed fiscal consolidation path with a sustainable deficit, focusing on revenue goals through improved tax administration and base broadening, avoiding disruptive levies. • Corporate Growth: Measures to reduce the cost of doing business and provide incentives for export-oriented industries, manufacturing, and technology sectors to boost listed company profitability. • Market Depth: Initiatives to encourage new listings, particularly from State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and broaden investor participation (e.g., reforms for pension/provident funds). • Crucial for Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) Re-entry: • Finalizing the remaining stages of external debt restructuring is paramount. • A clear timeline for structural reforms and SOE divestitures. • Improved governance, transparency, and ease of doing business. • The Budget must anchor the nation's journey from recovery to resilience; falling short on fiscal prudence and structural reforms risks triggering a market correction.