Tuesday, 11 February 2014 00:01
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The Central Bank said yesterday Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves are estimated to have recorded $7.2 billion by end December 2013 and estimated to be equivalent to around 4.5 months of imports.
“Despite outflows on account of foreign debt service payments, IMF-SBA payments and other foreign outflows, an adequate level of reserves were maintained throughout 2013,” the Central Bank said.
Total international reserves, which include foreign assets of commercial banks up to November 2013, the period for which data is available, amounted to $8.3 billion as at end November 2013, while total reserves were equivalent to 5.4 months of imports.
Central Bank also said in 2013, net inflows to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) were $269.9 million, compared to $305 million recorded in 2012. This includes net inflows to the CSE in the form of secondary market transactions amounting to $178.7 million, inflows from rights issues amounting to $83.4 million, foreign investment in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) amounting to $1.9 million and net foreign purchases of corporate debt amounting to $5.9 million.
In the meantime, inflows to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) listed companies remained moderate during January 2014, with a net inflow of $7.9 million.
In 2013, cumulative net foreign inflows to the government securities market amounted to $492.7 million. Further, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), of which data is available on a quarterly basis, increased by 42% to $870.1 million during the first nine months of 2013 from $614.7 million during the corresponding period in 2012. In addition, the Government has obtained long-term loans amounting to $1,625 million by November 2013, compared to $1,723 million during the first 11 months of 2012.
Further, inflows to Licensed Commercial Banks (LCBs) and Licensed Specialised Banks (LSBs) amounted to $1,548 million as at end November 2013. In the meantime, the net foreign inflows to the Government securities market in January 2014 was $ 156 million, a significant improvement from the net outflow of $13 million recorded in December 2013.
