The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka decided to discontinue the compilation and publication of SLIBOR with effect from 01 July 2020. This decision was taken in consideration of the lack of usage of SLIBOR in benchmarking loan products in the domestic financial market, the global trend of phasing out the compilation and publication of offered rates including the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), requests from several Licensed Commercial Banks (LCBs) to discontinue the reporting of offered rates in the context of thin interbank market volumes for longer tenures, and the availability of alternative benchmark interest rates in the domestic financial market.

Earnings from exports declined while expenditure on imports increased during December 2019, widening the trade deficit. During the year 2019, the trade deficit contracted significantly, driven by a sharp contraction in import expenditure. The speed of recovery in tourism industry accelerated in December 2019 although cumulative earnings from tourism declined during the year. Workers’ remittances increased notably (year-on-year) in December 2019 helping to moderate the cumulative decline in 2019. Meanwhile, there was a notable outflow of foreign investment from the government securities market during December 2019 while marginal net outflows were also observed from the CSE. The Sri Lankan rupee appreciated against the US dollar during 2019 and remained stable thus far during 2020.