The Central Bank of Sri Lanka will commence operations at its Regional Office in Nuwara Eliya on 17 January 2016 to further expand its regional presence to promote financial inclusion and to facilitate economic activities in the region. The Nuwara Eliya Regional Office is to be declared open by Mr. Arjuna Mahendran, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, with the participation of the senior management of the Central Bank and senior officials of commercial banks and government institutions.

The year-on-year growth of broad money (M2b) continued to expand at a high rate of 17.0 per cent in October 2015 compared to 16.0 per cent recorded in the previous month, driven by the expansion of credit extended to both private and public sectors by the banking system. Amongst contributory factors, credit granted to the private sector by commercial banks increased by 26.3 per cent, year-on-year, compared to 22.2 per cent in the previous month. Tentative data for November 2015 also shows that credit flows to the private sector continue to expand at a high rate. Meanwhile, excess liquidity in the domestic money market continues to remain high, fuelling monetary expansion.