Low interest rates are justified by @CBSL as necessary to stimulate dying economy;renewal of deposits at 4-5% has affected senior citizens who had depended on interest income;banks tell they can’t give promised 15%,since #SLgovt had failed to reimburse them for 3 years; 2/

With inflation at 6-7%,real interest is negative making it a borrowers’ haven;reaction by market is different:rich will transfer money assets into real assets&wait patiently till prices rise to take profits;poor will perish b’caz they don’t have assets to play around 3/

Middle class will draw on bank deposits,borrow from every possible source&go for speculative investments like those in share market;surge in share prices without underlying strength in C-19 affected companies gives wrong signals that it’s continuing & a safe haven 4/

Retail investors will be emboldened by rhetoric of crafty people that it’s a confirmation of economic recovery & success of policy;they would fall victim to pump&dump strategies of the manipulative elements;eventually they will burn fingers but not before losing everything 5/

Some ask me for a strategy to protect themselves:my advice is take cover, hide yourselves&survive till wise @CBSL realises its folly&reverses policy under guidance of now hated IMF;those who survive are like those emerging from hiding after an atomic explosion 6/

My former colleague AnilaB has timely warned us in an article @FT_SriLanka today: read it here: http://www.ft.lk/columns/Budget-2021-Playing-ostrich-or-parading-in-the-Emperor-s-new-clothes/4-711788