• Monetary Policy Review - No. 4 of 2017

    With due consideration to the prevailing and evolving domestic and international macroeconomic environment, the Monetary Board, at its meeting held on 22 June 2017, was of the view that the current monetary policy stance is appropriate and decided to maintain the policy interest rates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka at their present levels.

    The decision of the Monetary Board is consistent with the objective of maintaining inflation at mid-single digit levels over the medium term and thereby facilitating a sustainable growth trajectory. The rationale underpinning the monetary policy stance is set out below. 

  • SAARCFINANCE Group Meeting and SAARCFINANCE Governors’ Symposium held in Colombo on 12 July 2017

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka hosted the 34th SAARCFINANCE Group Meeting and SAARCFINANCE Governors’ Symposium in Colombo on 12 July 2017. The 34th SAARCFINANCE Group Meeting was attended by Governors and Finance Secretaries and other delegates from the Central Banks and Ministries of Finance in the SAARC region.

  • 20th Annual Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering in Colombo, Sri Lanka during July 17-21, 2017

    The 20th Annual Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering will be held in Colombo during July 17-21, 2017 with the participation of about 450 local and foreign delegates from 41 member countries and several international observer organisations. This event will be graced by His Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena as the Chief Guest.

  • A Commemorative Coin to Celebrate 150 Anniversary of Ceylon Tea

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) issued a commemorative coin with a face value of Rs. 10 to celebrate 150 years of Ceylon Tea and to recognize its contribution to the national economy as an important and long-standing export oriented commodity in Sri Lanka.

    The first set of coins were officially presented to the Hon. Minister of Finance, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera and Hon. Minister of Plantation Industries, Mr. Navin Dissanayake by Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of CBSL, at the ceremony held at CBSL on 12.07.2017.

    The coin will be issued into circulation from 13.07.2017 through licensed commercial banks and can be used for payments amongst other currency notes and coins in circulation.

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  • SL Purchasing Managers’ Index Survey - April 2017

    The Manufacturing Sector PMI, following the seasonal pattern, recorded 41.8 in April which is a decrease of 24.7 index points compared to March 2017. This indicates that the manufacturing activities contracted in April 2017, which is largely attributable to the decrease in the Production and New Orders sub-indices, following the significant increases observed in PMI for the month of March 2017. As highlighted by the survey respondents the new year holidays in April have also contributed to this seasonal decline in manufacturing activities. Further, all the sub-indices of PMI declined compared to the previous month. Moreover, all the sub-indices of PMI apart from Suppliers’ Delivery Time sub-index dropped below the neutral 50.0 threshold in April 2017. However, the expectation for activities indicates an improvement for the next three months.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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