Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today met with the stakeholders of the local stock market to discuss the current status of the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Finance Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera, senior officials of the SEC and CSE, representatives of the Stock brokering firms and investors have taken part in this discussion which has lasted for nearly two hours.

During the meeting, the Brokers have forwarded proposals seeking more leverage on broker credit and also easing of certain trading regulations imposed by the SEC.

An Industry figure who attended the meeting said, during the discussion, the broker community blamed the SEC for bringing in ad-hoc regulations to the system thus resulting in the current slide in the market.

SEC officials in response have defended themselves outlining the reasons for their actions.

They have also pointed out the loopholes existing in the current law governing the industry.

Amidst arguments and counter arguments, the meeting has ended without any commitment given by the government of easing regulations or giving more leverage in the areas of broker credit.

A source who attended the meeting said “Nothing came out of the meeting”.

However he said, Finance Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera has told the brokers that the meeting was also aimed at getting views of the industry to prepare the year 2013 budget presentation.

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