The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on 06.11.2017 decided to issue a notice of cancellation of the Licence issued to Central Investments and Finance PLC (CIFL) to carry on finance business under the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011.

CIFL was confronted with severe liquidity crisis since 2013 due to mismanagement and other irregular transactions carried out by the management of that company. It has also been observed that the directors and senior management of these companies have fraudulently inflated the value of the assets and the examination of the documents relating to such assets has revealed that those are either fictitious or entangled with encumbrances.

The external sector performance was driven by a double digit growth in exports (yearon-year) in September 2017, surpassing the US dollars 1 billion mark of monthly exports for the third consecutive month. However, the trade deficit expanded with higher imports of fuel and rice during the month. Earnings from tourism declined moderately during the month with a slightly lower number of tourist arrivals from key destinations compared to September 2016. The moderation in workers’ remittances continued in September, resulting in a noteworthy decline in workers’ remittances in the first nine months of 2017. However, reflecting continuous investor confidence, the financial account of the Balance of Payments (BOP) continued to strengthen during the month with higher foreign inflows to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the government securities market.