Monetary Board raises SRR ratio in com banks from January 16 | Daily News

Monetary Board raises SRR ratio in com banks from January 16

Gross official reserves, which stood at US dollars 6.5 billion at end October 2015, are estimated to have increased to around US dollars 7.3 billion by end November 2015, according to the Central Bank.

Reflecting domestic and global developments, the Sri Lanka rupee has depreciated by 8.8 percent against the US dollar in 2015.

Notwithstanding these developments, the Monetary Board is of the view that external sector policies already implemented need to be further supported by some monetary policy tightening.

The year-on-year growth of broad money (M2b) continued to expand at a high rate of 17.0 percent in October 2015 compared to 16.0 percent recorded in the previous month, driven by the expansion of credit extended to both private and public sectors by the banking system.

Amongst contributory factors, credit granted to the private sector by commercial banks increased by 26.3 percent, year-on-year, compared to 22.2 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, headline inflation, as measured by the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI, 2006/2007=100), increased to 3.1 percent, on a year-on-year basis, in November 2015 from 1.7 percent in October 2015.

On an annual average basis, headline inflation increased to 0.9 percent in November 2015 compared to 0.7 percent in the previous month.

On the external front, the decline in expenditure on imports in October 2015 was greater than the decline in earnings from exports, narrowing the deficit in the trade account by 6.8 per cent, on a year-on-year basis, to US dollars 791 million.

However, on a cumulative basis, the trade deficit during the first ten months of the year widened by 2.5 percent to US dollars 6,936 million reflecting the continued increase in non-oil imports.

Meanwhile, earnings from tourism during the first eleven months of 2015 are estimated to have grown by 18.1 percent, while workers’ remittances grew marginally by 0.8 percent in the first eleven months of the year. Accordingly, the Monetary Board decided, at its meeting held on December 30, 2015, to raise the Statutory Reserve Ratio (SRR) applicable to all rupee deposit liabilities of commercial banks by 1.50 percentage points to 7.50 percent to be effective from the reserve week commencing January 16, 2016.

Furthermore, the Monetary Board decided to maintain the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank unchanged at their current levels of 6.00 percent and 7.50 percent respectively. 


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