Tuesday, 22 October 2013 00:49
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The Central Bank said yesterday that earnings on account of workers’ remittances rose by 16.3%, year-on-year, to $570 million in August 2013 from $490.1 million in August 2012. For the first eight months of 2013, cumulative inflows from workers’ remittances stood at $4,333.5 million, a growth of 10.9% compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
Tourist arrivals grew at a healthy rate of 26.2%, year-on-year to 89,761 in September 2013.
Accordingly, the total number of tourist arrivals during the first nine months of the year increased by 15.5%, to 801,210 over the corresponding period in 2012.
Earnings from tourism increased by 43.4% year-on-year, to $98.7 million, in September 2013. Cumulative earnings from tourism during the first nine months of 2013 recorded a growth of 24.2% to $883.1 million from $711.1 million during the corresponding period in 2012.
The Central Bank also said the financial account of the BOP continued to record substantial inflows. In September 2013, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) received a net inflow of $10.6 million with net cumulative inflows received by the CSE during the first nine months of 2013 amounted to $156.3 million.
Cumulative net foreign inflows to the government securities market amounted to $484.9 million at the end September 2013, while the outstanding foreign holdings of Treasury bills and bonds remained at $3.6 billion.
During the first eight months of 2013, the long-term loans obtained by the government amounted to $1,128.7 million which was lower than the $2,330.7 million obtained during the first eight months of 2012, which included proceeds of the international sovereign bond of $1 billion.
Further, FDI inflows, including foreign loans to BOI companies, amounted to $540.2 million during the first half of 2013, an increase of 20%, compared to $451.7 million received during the first half of 2012. Furthermore, inflows to commercial banks during the first eight months of the year amounted to $664 million. The National Savings Bank (NSB) raised $750 million abroad by issuing a long term bond in September 2013.
Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves amounted to $6.3 billion by end August 2013 while total international reserves, including foreign reserves of commercial banks, stood at $7.5 billion. In terms of months of imports, gross official reserves were equivalent to 4.1 months of imports by end August 2013, well above the internationally accepted norm of three months of imports, while, total reserves were equivalent to 4.8 months of imports.
With the placement of funds raised in the international market by the NSB with the Central Bank, gross official reserves are estimated to have surpassed $7.0 billion by end September 2013.
Accordingly, Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves have been at a satisfactory level, even after accounting for the outflows of the IMF-Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) principal payments of $288.3 million and foreign debt service payments of around $1,105 million during the first nine months of the year.
