Economic news

Sri Lanka c. bank to focus on stronger crisis recovery in 2025

2025.01.08 05:33

By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka will focus on stronger recovery this year after the island nation posted real GDP growth of 5% in 2024, the highest in seven years, its central bank chief said on Wednesday, hoping to accelerate a rebound from its worst financial crisis in decades.

Sri Lanka’s economy crumpled under a severe foreign exchange crisis in 2022, but has posted a faster than expected rally after it secured a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program in March 2023 and completed a $25 billion debt restructuring in December.

The economy grew 5.2% in the first nine months of 2024, outstripping the 3% estimate by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

“Achieving a transformative acceleration in growth trajectory is essential to catch up and enhance the growth potential. This would also help enhance the debt-carrying capacity of the country,” he said at a annual policy agenda launch.

Taking advantage of lower inflation, which reached minus 1.7% in December, Sri Lanka’s central bank set a new single policy rate of 8%, easing monetary settings below previously used benchmarks and setting the stage for stronger private sector credit growth, Weerasinghe added.

Inflation is expected to reach positive territory in mid-2025, after which CBSL will focus on maintaining a 5% inflation rate.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk past the main entrance of the Sri Lanka's Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File photo

CBSL will also strengthen monetary policy forecasting, continue to improve its reserve buffers under the IMF program, and introduce a benchmark spot exchange rate in 2025. Weerasinghe said.

Sri Lanka will continue recapitalisation of banks, consolidate large finance companies, and review the Statutory Reserve Ratio (SRR) of 2% to increase financial system stability, the Governor added.



Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 83,635.41 0.43%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,904.77 0.50%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.01%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 2.35 0.35%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 640.60 6.06%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 128.94 3.71%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.01%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.725903 0.53%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.174147 0.55%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.214566 1.74%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 1,898.87 0.58%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 83,396.34 0.57%
pi-network
Pi Network (PI) $ 1.34 10.13%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.80 0.64%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 13.82 1.54%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 3.42 0.47%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.274072 1.04%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.02%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 2,276.75 0.48%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.191432 0.65%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000013 1.67%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 18.61 2.91%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 2.31 0.01%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 93.24 1.68%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.42 3.28%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 6.79 2.82%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 336.18 0.21%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 0.999791 0.06%
bitget-token
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.47 0.54%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 1,904.91 0.59%
binance-bridged-usdt-bnb-smart-chain
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 0.995229 0.58%
hyperliquid
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 13.62 0.19%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 28.45 1.31%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,024.30 0.54%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 209.47 1.71%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.22 0.11%
susds
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.04 0.06%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 5.37 2.07%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999995 0.01%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.58 1.98%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000007 1.00%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 49.08 5.76%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.834913 5.37%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.75 0.70%
gatechain-token
Gate (GT) $ 21.99 1.80%
ondo-finance
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.854085 0.68%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 17.88 0.81%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 169.82 1.25%
coinbase-wrapped-btc
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 83,574.39 0.52%
tokenize-xchange
Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 30.01 0.25%