Sri Lanka's reserves increased to over US$ 3.5 Bn in June - CBSL

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Central Bank of Sri Lanka said that gross official reserve (GOR) increased to US dollars 3.7 billion by end June 2023, compared to US dollars 1.9 billion recorded at end 2022.

It added that the significant increase was mainly due to the receipt of the first tranche of USD 341 Million from the IMF-EFF supported program in March 2023, and the USD 350 Million from the ADB in May 2033, as well as the USD 250 Million from the International Development Association of the World Bank.

It added that the Central Banks intervention in the domestic foreign exchange market by absorbing foreign exchange liquidity on a net basis also attributed to the increase.

It added that the continuation of the IMF-EFF supported  rogramme, the successful progress on the debt restructuring, anticipated upswing in tourism would have a favourable impact.

The Central Bank in its inaugural Monetary Policy Report noted that the successful completion of the first review of the IMF-EFF and meeting required conditions for other foreign financing assistance would guarantee sizeable  oreign exchange inflows from multilateral agencies in the remaining period of 2023, thus improving the foreign exchange availability. 

However, the Central Bank noted that the current account deficit for 2023 is projected to be broadly around the same level recorded in 2022.