Fed rate hike expectations slowing inflows to capital account: CB
8 December 2015 06:30 pm
The Central Bank (CB) yesterday said the inflows to the capital account slowing amid the expectation of the US Federal Reserve increasing interest rates.
Workers remittances in September grew 1.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US $ 584.2 million. The cumulative inflows from remittances in the first nine months rose 1.8 percent YoY to US $ 5182.2 million.
Earnings from tourism in September rose 35.9 percent YoY to US $ 584.2 million while the cumulative figure for the nine months hit US $ 2 billion mark, up 18.8 percent YoY.
The Colombo Stock Exchange saw an inflow of funds amounting to US $ 1.6 million in September, against an outflow of US $ 9.5 million a year ago.
However, the cumulative inflows for the first nine months in 2015 fell 80.6 percent YoY to US $ 9.2 million.
Inflows to the government by way of treasury bills, bonds, sovereign bonds and long-term loans in September rose 27.4 percent YoY to US $ 169.7 million.
However, again, the cumulative figure for the nine months fell 41.3 percent YoY to US $ 2599.1 million.
Official reserves US $ 6.8bn in September
Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves stood at US $ 6.8 billion as at end-September 2015, equivalent to 4.2 months of imports.
Subsequent to the decision of the Central Bank on September 4, 2015 to accommodate greater flexibility in the determination of the exchange rate, the rupee has depreciated by 5.9 percent, resulting in an overall depreciation of 8.5 percent during the year up to December 8, 2015.
Over the year, based on cross currency exchange rate movements, the Sri Lankan rupee appreciated against the euro by 2.5 percent, Australian dollar by 3.5 percent and the Canadian dollar by 6.7 percent while depreciating against the Japanese yen by 5.6 percent, the pound sterling by 5.4 percent and the Indian rupee by 3.6 percent.