Central Bank of Sri Lanka

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inflation in June 2016

Inflation, as measured by the change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) (2013=100), which is compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics, increased to 6.4 per cent in June 2016 from 5.3 per cent in May 2016, on year-on-year basis. Both Food and Non-food categories contributed towards the year-on-year inflation in June 2016.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased to 3.1 per cent in June 2016 from 2.7 per cent in May 2016.

SL Purchasing Managers’ Index Survey - June 2016

The Manufacturing PMI recovered to the positive territory in June 2016 registering 55.1 index points, from the contraction observed in the last two months, which is an increase of 7.2 index points from May 2016. This improvement was bolstered by the significant increase observed in Production and New Orders Indices. Moreover, all the Sub-indices of PMI, apart from Suppliers’ Delivery Time increased compared to the previous month. Overall data points to an expansion where all the sub-indices apart from the Employment Index are above the neutral 50.0 threshold. The expectations for activities also indicated an improvement for the next three months. On yearon-year basis, the PMI index witnesses a marginal drop of 2.4 index points compared to June 2015.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka USD 1,500 million Dual-Tranche International Sovereign Bond Issuance

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (“CBSL”), on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka), marked its return to the U.S. dollar bond markets with a successful issuance of U.S.$500 million 5.5-year and U.S.$1.0 billion 10-year International Sovereign Bonds (Bonds) on July 11th, 2016. This marks Sri Lanka‟s 10th US Dollar bond issuance and the first dualtranche offering.

The Bonds have been rated 'B1', „B+‟ and „B+' by Moody's Investors Service, Standard and Poor‟s and Fitch Ratings, respectively. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acted as the Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners of this successful transaction.

External Sector Performance - March 2016

The external sector performance moderated with an expansion of the trade deficit in March 2016. Earnings from exports declined while imports reduced marginally during the month compared to the previous year. However, during the first quarter of 2016, the trade deficit contracted compared to the corresponding period of 2015 due to the reduction in imports which outweighed the reduction in exports. Tourist earnings and workers’ remittances increased, strengthening the current account of the Balance of Payments (BOP) while inflows to the financial account continued to moderate.

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