Category: Money

June 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government securities market has seen a trickle of foreign investment as the country is slowly emerged from a balance of payments crisis, official data showed. The central bank said the volume of Treasury bonds held by foreign investors increased by about 1,500 million rupees (about 10 million US […]

May 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s has adopted a different reporting format for foreign reserves, giving a breakdown of cash advanced to domestic banks, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. But the government officially declared fighting at an end Monday with state media saying the top leadership of Tamil Tiger separatists has been killed. […]

May 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said there was more room to cut rates and hinted that the monetary authority may return to a single signal policy rate.So far this year the monetary authority has cut its de facto main signal rate, the penal reverse repo rate, from […]

May 07, 2009 (LBO) – The rupee is at the right level, central bank governor Nivard Cabraal said as the local currency floated between 116.50 to 117.70 rupees against the US dollar in spot trade Thursday. Sri Lanka has asked for a 1.9 billion US dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund which reports said […]

May 07, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee peaked at 116.50 in intra-day trading against the US dollar, Thursday before weakening to 117.70/90 levels, as state bank buying returned to the market, dealers said.The rupee gained steeply with foreign banks on the sell side in morning trade and a state bank bought at 116.60 […]

May 06, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee closed at 118.10/20 against the spot US dollar Wednesday after floating higher from opening levels of around 119.80/120.00 levels with weak import demand, dealers said. In February the central bank’s real effective exchange showed the rupee was 26 percent overvalued against the US dollar. State banks, […]

May 5, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasuries yields fell across the board with the 12-month yield falling 27 basis points to 13.78 percent at Tuesday’s auction, the government’s debt office said. The 6-month yield fell 51 basis points to 13.44 percent and the 3-month yield fell 43 basis points to 12.22 percent. The government […]

April 27, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee opened at 120.10/40 against the spot dollar Monday dealers said, while stocks opened 0.46 percent up, following week of strong gains. Seylan Bank, of which 33 percent is being sold to a strategic partner by the Central Bank opened up 1.00 rupees at 39.75. Sampath opened […]

April 24, 2009 (LBO) – The rupee weakened to 120.70 levels against the US dollar, with a foreign bank on the buying side Friday, but recovered later in the day ending a week that saw the domestic currency fall about four rupees, dealers said. In late afternoon trade the spot dollar was quoted at 120.0/30 […]

April 23, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee weakened below the psychological 120.00 level against the US dollar in spot trade to 120.80 before recovering, as the local currency continued float freely, dealers said. The rupee fall come amidst a collapse in import volumes and an unprecedented contraction in the trade deficit. The rupee […]

April 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has cut its de facto signal policy rate by 175 basis points to 13.0 percent to spur lending as credit to the private sector fell 5.6 percent in February, and trimmed the repo rate to discourage excess reserves. The rate cuts come as the rupee is […]

April 22, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee edged lower but recovered before hitting a psychological 120.00 level against the greenback, Wednesday with some exporters taking profits, dealers said.The rupee opened wide at 118.75/119.25 a day after the central bank talked up the rupee, weakening towards 119.65/120.00 and recovering to 119.00/119.10 levels later in […]