The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) states that the inability to continue the comprehensive credit facility programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and if the expected structural economic reforms are not carried out properly, the country’s economy may be adversely affected.
The CBSL heads made these remarks while addressing a special press conference to make journalists aware regarding the monetary policy report issued by the CBSL at the Central Bank headquarters.
According to the CBSL Act No. 16 of 2023, the monetary policy report must be published every six months. According to this, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued the first monetary policy report for the period from June 1 to December 31, 2023 last Wednesday (21).
Although this monetary policy report points out a current inflation rate of over five percent, the CBSL aims to maintain an average inflation rate of five percent by June this year.
The CBSL added that the Sri Lankan economy recorded negative economic growth in continuous six quarters i.e. all four quarters of 2022 and the first two quarters of 2023. The Central Bank stated that starting from the third quarter of 2023, there has been significant growth in all three sectors, namely agriculture, industry and services.
Dharma Sri Abeyratne and Jayasiri Munasinghe