In this issue

Governments’ fondness for interventionism and its consequences

Data compiled by three economists tracking 30 European countries listed 1,160 privatizations in Europe compared to only 61 nationalizations in the decade ending in 2016. Productivity gains from previously poorly managed resources are a source of economic growth in Europe and other countries.

A case in point is Romania. In 2005, it established Fondul Proprietatea, a closed-ended fund, to take over 90 state-owned ventures, including its hydroelectricity and coal power plants. In the years since, Fondul, and its private sector asset managers, have been successful at generating a steady stream of returns through dividends and asset sales for the government. The Romanian state's ownership of the fund has dwindled to 6%. Romanian pension funds and portfolio investors are now the fund's largest shareholders.

Dividend and divestment income has funded Romanian public spending and welfare.

Expanding the welfare state without targeting benefits was a major weakness in Sri Lanka’s public finances. Packaging subsidies with commercial operations of state ventures are fraught with conflicts of interest.
States intervening in multiple areas of the economy, monopolistic control, and crowding out funding rarely serves the long-term interest of taxpayers who fund these. Sri Lankan managers of state ventures have demonstrated a general lack of capacity, alignment with objectives and poor governance, which can indeed lead to disaster.

Many states have unravelled the state's interest in the need to run commercial ventures successfully during the last three decades. Romania is just one example. Sri Lanka is not short of examples to follow.

Echelon Magazine Description:

Intelligent Storytelling

The one thing that will define the Echelon magazine will be the quality of the storytelling. Echelon,published monthly, will cover in depth Sri Lanka’s most successful businesses, examine their winning strategiesand profile their leaders in immersive stories. Great stories are also never limited to words, and our approach includes rich photography, bold graphics and leading edge design which together will make for a compelling read.

But business doesn’t start and end in a boardroom;it extends to the golf club greens, to international travel and to pursuits that blurthe lines between commercial venture and sheer passion. The Echelon team will present the best in business and lifestyle coverage that will appeal to an exclusive and affluent readership: an otherwise hard to reach demographic.

Content will be developed by one of the most experienced and proven teams of editors, financial journalists, photographers and designers in the country.This team has already raised the bar for powerful and expertly crafted business news. Shamindra Kulamannage, will lead the editorial team.

The reputation of Echelon is being built on the separation between editorial and advertising. However we are also looking for the most creative and impactful new formats that can be applied in our magazines, iPad app as well as website to help our clients reach our audience. We are flexible and creative and we will have a solution for every single advertiser who wants to reach our audience.

We are passionate about creative results and about working with our advertisers to help them create bespoke multi platform creative solutions with our in house creative team and of course our sales team.

Echelon will be a great place to show off the products and capabilities of our clients because they will be surrounded by an editorial product that is expertly crafted, full of integrity and intelligence.