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The Central Bank of Sri Lanka Maintains Policy Interest Rates at Current Levels

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 01 October 2018, decided to maintain policy interest rates at their current levels. Accordingly, the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank will remain at 7.25 per cent and 8.50 per cent, respectively.

The Board arrived at the above decision after carefully considering current and expected developments in the domestic and global economy, with the aim of stabilising inflation at midsingle digit levels in the medium term to support growth.

IMF Staff Concludes Visit to Sri Lanka to Discuss Progress of Economic Reform Program - September 27, 2018

End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. This mission will not result in a Board discussion.

Release of 'Sri Lanka Socio-Economic Data - 2018' Publication

'Sri Lanka Socio-Economic Data – 2018', the annually published data folder of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, is now available for public information. The current data folder is the 41st volume of the series.

This easy- to- carry data folder contains information categorized under 14 topics, namely, Country Profile; Key Economic Indicators; Country Comparisons; Socio Economic Conditions; Human Resources; National Accounts; Agriculture; Industry; Economic and Social Infrastructure; Prices and Wages; External Trade and Tourism; External Finance; Government Finance; and Money Banking and Finance.

Inflation in August 2018

Headline Inflation, as measured by the change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100), which is compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), decreased to 2.5 per cent in August 2018 from 3.4 per cent in July 2018, on year-on-year basis, mainly driven by monthly decline in Food prices in August 2018. The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis decreased from 5.1 per cent in July 2018 to 4.7 per cent in August 2018.

Date of Announcement of the Monetary Policy Review - No. 6 of 2018

The Monetary Policy Review – No. 6 of 2018, which was previously scheduled to be issued on Friday, 28 September 2018 as announced in the Road Map - Monetary and Financial Sector Policies for 2018 and Beyond, has been rescheduled to Tuesday, 02 October 2018 at 7.30 a.m.

Margin Deposit Requirement against Letters of Credit (LCs) opened with Commercial Banks for the Importation of Vehicles

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka imposed a 100 per cent margin deposit requirement against Letters of Credit opened with the commercial banks for the import of motor vehicles,which are generally used for non-commercial purposes,with immediateeffect.Accordingly, Letters of Credit for the importation of these vehicle categories could be done only with a minimum cash margin of 100 per cent.

The decision to impose the margin deposit requirement is based on recent developments which, if not addressed, could threaten macroeconomic stability. These include the following:

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