• Moratoria to COVID-19 affected businesses and individuals has exceeded Rs.4,000 billion: Saubagya loans amount to over Rs.179 billion

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has implemented several schemes to assist COVID-19 affected borrowers through Financial Institutions (FIs) supervised by the CBSL. The schemes included extended repayment periods, concessionary rates of interest, working capital loans, debt moratoriums and restructuring/rescheduling of credit facilities for affected borrowers. 

    These concessions greatly assisted the small and medium enterprises of many affected sectors: tourism, apparel, plantation, information technology, logistic service providers, three-wheeler owners, operators of school vans, lorries, small goods transport vehicles and buses, and private sector employees.  

  • Writ Application against Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal dismissed by the court of Appeal

    The Writ Application (CA Writ 417/2021) filed by Mr Keerthi Thennekoon (former Governor of the Southern Province)  against the appointment of Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal as the Governor of the Central Bank was dismissed by the Court of Appeal today, on the grounds that the Petitioner has not established a prima facie case.

    Another Writ Application against Governor Cabraal’s appointment filed by Mr Ariyawansa Dissanayake (former Presidential candidate) was also withdrawn by the Petitioner last week.

  • Establishment of Foreign Remittances Facilitation Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka

    Workers' remittances have been a key pillar of Sri Lanka's foreign currency earnings that has nearly 100 per cent of domestic value addition, providing a substantial cushion for external sector resilience of the country. Workers' remittances have covered around 80 per cent of the annual trade deficit over the past two decades, and strengthening remittances inflows to the country brings several socio-economic benefits including the smooth supply of forex inflows to the formal banking system and the reduction of income and regional disparities.

  • Imposition of Administrative Penalties by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to Enforce Compliance on Financial Institutions during the Third Quarter of 2021

    By virtue of the powers vested under Section 19 (1) read together with section 19 (2) of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 06 of 2006 (FTRA), financial penalties are imposed on Institutions for non-compliance with the provisions of the FTRA. The penalty may be prescribed taking into consideration the nature and gravity of relevant non- compliance of the Financial Institution.

    Accordingly, as Sri Lanka’s regulator for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), the FIU collected penalties as indicated below, amounting to Rs. 2.0 million in total for the period from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021 to enforce compliance on Financial Institutions. The money collected as penalties were credited to the Consolidated Fund.

  • CCPI based Inflation increased to 7.6 per cent in October 2021

    Headline inflation, as measured by the year-onyear (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100), increased to 7.6per cent in October 2021 from 5.7 per cent in September 2021. This was driven by monthly increases of prices of items in both Food and Nonfood categories. Subsequently, Food inflation (Yo-Y) increased to 12.8 per cent in October 2021 from 10.0 per cent in September 2021, while Nonfood inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 5.4 per cent in October 2021 from 3.8 per cent in September 2021.

  • Central Bank Issues New Rules on Conversion of Export Proceeds

    The Monetary Board of the Central Bank issued new Rules, as published in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 2251/42 dated 28 October 2021, in respect of repatriation of export proceeds into Sri Lanka and conversion of such export proceeds to Sri Lanka Rupees, repealing the existing Rules issued under the Monetary Law Act, No.58 of 1949. The new Rules are applicable for both exporters of goods and services in Sri Lanka. 

  • Establishing an Advisory Committee for Revival of Failed Licensed Finance Companies

    The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has established an Advisory Committee to examine possible revival options for failed finance companies. 

    The Committee comprises four (04) eminent experts from the business sector and is chaired by Mr. Dharma Dheerasinghe, Chairman of CBC Finance Ltd., former Chairman of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The other members are Mr. Sujeewa Mudalige, Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Mr. Tishan Subasinghe, Managing Director of Moore Stephens Consulting (Pvt) Ltd.; and Mr. Thiyagarajah Dharmarajah, Senior Partner (Audit & Assurance) of Amerasekera & Company, Chartered Accountants.

  • CBSL Successfully Completes the Process of Developing and Testing a Blockchain Technology based Shared Know-Your-Customer (KYC) Proof-of-Concept (POC)

    The Report of the Blockchain Technology based Shared KYC POC was presented to the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal by the Chairman of the National Payment Council (NPC), Mrs. Yvette Fernando, Deputy Governor of CBSL on 25 October 2021 amidst attendance of CBSL management and officers, and the virtual participation of CEOs and officers of banks that engaged in POC testing and the three POC development teams.  

  • Ill-Timed and Unacceptable Rating Action by Moody’s Renews Concerns of Subjectivity

    The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) wishes to express strong displeasure on the recent assessment by Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) that led to the rating action, after being placed under review for downgrade three months ago in a similar fashion. Once again, Moody’s irrational rating action with regard to Sri Lanka comes a few days before a key event, namely the announcement of the Government Budget for 2022, and this apparent hastiness and the view expressed during discussions with Moody’s analysts that the nature of the Budget is irrelevant to the financing plans of the Government clearly demonstrates the lack of understanding of such analysts. It also reflects serious governance weaknesses of such agencies, where they systematically overlook the positive developments and expectations in emerging market economies, but attribute much greater weight to downside risks.

  • Beware of Financial Scams

    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has been receiving information regarding certain Scams where organized parties seem to be claiming that they have large amounts of foreign and/or local currency credited to their accounts which have been temporarily blocked, and that they would pay handsome amounts to any person who can assist in unblocking such amounts. Sometimes they also show forged documentation that large sums of money had been credited to various accounts and they only need to get the approval of the Central Bank to withdraw such monies.

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