On June 24th, 2019, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (“CBSL”), on behalf of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (“Sri Lanka”), returned to the U.S. dollar bond markets, successfully pricing a new issuance of U.S.$500 million 5-year and U.S.$1.5 billion long 10-year Senior Unsecured Fixed Rate Bonds (the “Bonds”) with maturity dates of June 28th, 2024 and March 28th, 2030, respectively. The Bonds have been rated ‘B2’, ‘B’ and ‘B’ by Moody’s Investors Service, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, respectively.

Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100) decreased to 3.5 per cent in May 2019 from 3.6 per cent in April 2019 due to the high base prevailed in the corresponding month of the previous year. Meanwhile, in May 2019, year-on-year Food and Non-food inflation recorded -0.4 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased marginally to 2.0 per cent in May 2019 from 1.9 per cent in April 2019.

When monthly change is considered, the NCPI increased by 1.1 per cent in May 2019 with the increases observed in the prices of the items in both Food and Non-food categories. Within the Food category, prices of vegetables, fresh fish, limes, potatoes and milk powder recorded increases. In addition, within the Non-Food category, prices of the items in Transport; Health; and Recreation and Culture sub-categories increased during the month.