• Clarification on Opening Special Deposit Accounts

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) wishes to categorically deny the views/concerns expressed/raised by few authorities and persons that the required due diligence processes are not followed by banks (Authorized Dealers - ADs) operating in Sri Lanka in opening and maintaining recently introduced Special Deposit Accounts (SDAs).

    The Government of Sri Lanka in consultation with the Monetary Board of the CBSL has introduced the SDA with the view to seek assistance for the national effort to overcome the effects of COVID-19 outbreak by issuing Regulations dated 08.04.2020 under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Act (FEA).

  • CCPI based Inflation Declined Further in June 2020

    Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) declined to 3.9 per cent in June 2020 from 4.0 per cent in May 2020. This was solely driven by the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in June 2019. Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 10.0 per cent in June 2020 from 9.9 per cent in May 2020. Meanwhile, Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 1.4 per cent in June 2020 from 1.6 per cent in May 2020.

    The change in the CCPI measured on an annual average basis remained unchanged at 4.7 per cent in June 2020.

  • The Central Bank Implements a Credit Guarantee and Interest Subsidy Scheme for Businesses affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic

    The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 26 June 2020, decided to implement a Credit Guarantee and Interest Subsidy Scheme to accelerate lending by banks to businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This scheme, which will be launched on 01 July 2020, will operate in parallel with the Saubagya COVID-19 Renaissance Facility and the new Facility approved by the Monetary Board under Section 83 of the Monetary Law Act, within the already announced threshold of Rs. 150 billion.

  • Compensation Payments to the depositors of The Finance Company PLC - Second Stage

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has taken measures to commence the second stage of the compensation payments to the depositors of The Finance Company PLC (TFC) with effect from 02.07.2020. Accordingly, such payments will be taken place at 63 branches of the People’s Bank Island wide. In terms of this compensation mechanism Rs. 600,000/- is paid per depositor basis.

    Under this second stage compensation to all the depositors confirmed by the TFC will be commenced from 02.07.2020.

  • Statement Made by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on Regulation and Supervision of Non - Bank Financial Institutions

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has noticed several media reports that vests the responsibility of failure and subsequent cancellation of licence of several finance companies which were licensed under the Finance Business Act, No. 42 of 2011 (FBA).

    The CBSL carries out the regulation and supervision of licensed finance companies (LFCs) to ensure and strengthen the stability of the LFCs and in turn the stability of the financial system, which is one of the core objectives of the CBSL. Such stability is ensured through minimum capital, minimum liquidity, and provisioning requirements; regulation of investments to reduce concentration risk and corporate Governance requirements.

  • The Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 Relief Measures: How are we helping the Country, Economy and YOU?

    This press statement aims to create public awareness about the operational and policy measures undertaken by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka thus far during 2020, to support the economy, the financial system and the general public in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Being the apex financial institution of the country, the Central Bank provided its full scope of essential services to the economy and the financial system during the lockdown. The Central Bank actively took steps to ease the burden on the general public during this unprecedented disruption of global scale, while preserving the focus on its legal mandate to maintain economic, price and financial system stability.  

  • Central Bank Approved Rs. 28 Billion Loans at 4% among 13,861 Businesses Affected by the COVID-19 Outbreak

    Having identified the urgent need of reviving the businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and thereby to promote economic activity in the country, the Central Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka launched a novel refinance facility under the Saubagya (Prosperity) Loan Scheme, named Saubagya Covid-19 Renaissance Facility, as announced on 24 March 2020.

  • NCPI based Inflation decreased further in May 2020

    Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100) decreased further to 5.2 per cent in May 2020 from 5.9 per cent in April 2020. This was mainly driven by the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in May 2019. Meanwhile, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 11.1 per cent in May 2020 from 12.2 per cent in April 2020 and Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) also declined to 0.8 per cent in May 2020 from 1.1 per cent in April 2020.

  • External Sector Performance - April 2020

    Sri Lanka’s external sector performance in April 2020 was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic related economic interruptions. The imposition of a partial lockdown had a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports sector while shutting down the tourism industry in April 2020. The expenditure on merchandise imports also declined, with disruption to import related supply chains and restrictions imposed on non essential imports by the government and the Central Bank. With some migrant workers returning to the country prior to the lockdown and reduced compensation and redundancies faced by some migrant workers abroad, a significant decline was recorded in workers’ remittances during the month.

  • The Central Bank of Sri Lanka Implements New Credit Schemes to Support the Revival of the Economy

    Growth of the Sri Lankan economy has fallen to dismal levels over the past few years, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may result in severe stress on economic and financial system stability in the period ahead unless immediate remedial actions are taken. In this context, in support of the government’s efforts to revive the economy, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 16 June 2020, decided to introduce new credit schemes under the Section 83 of the Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949.

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