Central Bank of Sri Lanka

News

Central Bank of Sri Lanka Clarifies Misleading News Reports on Statements Made by the Governor

The attention of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has been drawn to several misleading news reports on statements made by Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka at the Press Conference held on 09 May 2017. These news reports inaccurately have stated that the Governor disclosed that an Assistant Governor and officer/s of the Employees Provident Fund Department had been transferred over their alleged role in causing a loss to the EPF through the irregular transactions.

Therefore, the CBSL wishes to state the following, clarifying misrepresentations contained in the erroneous news reports.

Monetary Policy Review - No. 3 of 2017

As expected, the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) based headline inflation, decelerated on a year-on-year basis to 6.9 per cent in April 2017 from 7.3 per cent in March 2017, and CCPI based core inflation also decelerated to 6.8 per cent in April 2017 from 7.3 per cent recorded in the previous month. It is expected that inflation based on the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100), which edged up in March 2017, will also display a similar decline in April 2017. Supported by monetary policy adjustments from end 2015, inflation is projected to decelerate gradually to the desired mid-single digit levels by end 2017, although there could be some monthly fluctuations due to short term supply side disruptions and the base effects of tax revisions in 2016.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka USD 1.5 billion International Sovereign Bond Offering

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka), successfully priced a new U.S.$1.5 billion 10-year International Sovereign Bond (Bonds) on May 4th, 2017. The Bonds have been rated ‘B1’, ‘B+’ and ‘B+' by Moody's Investors Service, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings respectively.

This marks Sri Lanka’s eleventh U.S. dollar benchmark offering in the international bond markets since 2007 and is a clear testament of the international investor community’s continued support for Sri Lanka through the years. Citigroup, CITIC CLSA Securities, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ICBC International, J.P. Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank acted as the Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners on this successful transaction.

The transaction was undertaken on the back of a strong market window post the Federal Open Market Committee minutes release and ahead of the Nonfarm payroll and the French elections. The transaction also coincided with the International Monetary Fund staff-level agreement that was released a day before on May 3rd, 2017.

External Sector Performance – January 2017

Sri Lanka’s external sector demonstrated a modest performance in January 2017. During the month, the trade deficit widened as a result of increased import expenditure and a decline in export earnings. However, foreign currency receipts in terms of earnings from tourism recorded a relatively high growth in January 2017 while workers’ remittances grew at a moderate rate, year–on-year. The government securities market and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed net outflows during January 2017.

FULL TEXT

'Central Bank Comes to You…' Open Day Programme conducted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will conduct its first Open Day Programme “Central Bank Comes to You…” at the CBSL Regional Office Matale, at No. 805, Trincomalee Street, Mandandawala, Matale on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th May 2017 from 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.

The purpose of the programme is to enable the General Public to access services provided by the CBSL, such as services relating to EPF , exchange of damaged currency notes and issue of coins, currency museum, sale of CBSL publications, SMI loan schemes etc. and to interact with the Governor and senior management of the CBSL.

Sessions will be held on issues concerning exchange control regulations, pyramid schemes, unauthorized financial businesses, microfinance companies etc.

The services of the Credit Information Bureau (CRIB) and Credit Counseling Centre will be available. There will be stalls by licensed banks and SMI entrepreneurs assisted by the CBSL Regional Office Matale will market their products.

IMF Reaches Staff-Level Agreement on the Second Review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility

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. Based on the findings so far, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF's Executive Board for discussion and decision.

The staff-level agreement is subject to the completion of a prior action by the authorities and the approval of the IMF Executive Board, which is expected to be considered in June 2017.
The new Inland Revenue Act should pave the way for a durable fiscal consolidation.
Maintaining the reform momentum in an uncertain external environment is important for addressing fiscal and external vulnerabilities.

After constructive discussions with the authorities during the visit to Colombo in March, and more recently during the Spring Meetings, an IMF staff team issued the following statement in Washington DC:

Pages

Press Releases

	Data Library
	Authorized Institutions
	Remittance Partners
	Economic Indicators
	Special Data Dissemination Standard
	Economic and Statistical Charts
	Advance Release Calendar-2025
	Consumer Complaints
	Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance Scheme
	CBSL Surveys

Exter Report

Monetary Policy Review

Financial Stability Review

Currency Museum

Monetary Policy Review

News