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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.

The transaction was undertaken on the back of a strong market window post the Federal Open Market Committee minutes release and ahead of the Nonfarm payroll and the French elections. The transaction also coincided with the International Monetary Fund staff-level agreement that was released a day before on May 3rd, 2017.

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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'Central Bank Comes to You…' Open Day Programme conducted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will conduct its first Open Day Programme “Central Bank Comes to You…” at the CBSL Regional Office Matale, at No. 805, Trincomalee Street, Mandandawala, Matale on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th May 2017 from 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.

The purpose of the programme is to enable the General Public to access services provided by the CBSL, such as services relating to EPF , exchange of damaged currency notes and issue of coins, currency museum, sale of CBSL publications, SMI loan schemes etc. and to interact with the Governor and senior management of the CBSL.

Sessions will be held on issues concerning exchange control regulations, pyramid schemes, unauthorized financial businesses, microfinance companies etc.

The services of the Credit Information Bureau (CRIB) and Credit Counseling Centre will be available. There will be stalls by licensed banks and SMI entrepreneurs assisted by the CBSL Regional Office Matale will market their products.

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SL Purchasing Managers’ Index Survey - April 2017