The Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Consultative Group for Asia (RCG Asia) met on 29 November 2023 in Hong Kong SAR and discussed recent financial market developments and their impact on the region, vulnerabilities arising from non-bank financial intermediation, the deepening of the sovereign-bank nexus in some emerging market and developing economies, and ways to promote effective regulation and supervision of crypto-asset related risks. Members shared their experiences of identifying, monitoring, and addressing these risks and welcomed FSB’s continued focus on enhancing the resilience of financial systems.

The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Eddie Yue, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the current member co-chair, and Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the current Non- Member Co-chair of the RCG Asia. The Membership of RCG Asia comprises financial authorities from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Merchandise trade deficit widened in October 2023 due to relatively low export earnings driven by subdued garment exports and high import expenditure driven by fuel imports, compared to October 2022 as well as September 2023. 

Workers’ remittances exceeded US dollars 500 million in October 2023, while earnings from tourism continued the notable improvement in October 2023, compared to a year ago. 

Foreign investments in the government securities market continued to record a net outflow in October 2023, however, year-to-date net inflows continued to be positive.

Gross Official Reserves amounted to US dollars 3.6 billion by end October 2023.

The Sri Lanka rupee remained stable against the US dollar during the month of October 2023.