Sri Lanka rupee remains at 364 in TT dollar, interbank rupee at 359.37

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s commercial banks quoted the rupee at 364 against telegraphic transfers on Tuesday (24) while the central bank interbank spot trade was at 359.37 under a daily guidance rate plus or minus 3.00 rupees.

On Tuesday, the central bank had increased the daily guidance margin to 3.00 rupees from the initial 2.50 rupees.

Monday, the interbank spot was quoted at 359.4373.

Commercial banks were quoting 354/364 for telegraphic transfer dollars on Tuesday, remaining unchanged from last week.

Sri Lanka’s central bank governor warned that the country is yet to see its worst economic contraction in its history as its struggling to import goods while industries also warn of raw material shortages.

The central bank in its monthly policy review on last said anyone holding more than 10,000 dollars in hand without surrendering within a given period of time will be charged.

The central bank stopped quoting day rates on January 23 when the rupee was floated with an interest rate correction after the soft peg collapsed, amid a war. In 2021 and the central bank also started enforcing a rate incompatible with the policy rate at around 203 to the US dollar.

The central bank from August 2021 to April has hiked rates by almost 9 percent and in April alone the rates were hiked by 7 percent.

In the secondary market, there was only moderate activitythere were only a handful of transactions despite the market being positive last week following the bond auction and the monetary policy meeting, market participants said.

A bond maturing on 01.06.2025 closed at 22.50/65 percent on Tuesday, down from 22.55/65 percent on Monday.

A bond maturing on 1.05.2027 closed flat at 21.15/21.75 percent on Tuesday.
(Colombo/May24/2022)