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Sri Lanka looks to China, Japan and India to boost Rupee

10 Jan, 2019

Sri Lanka is in talks with China, Japan and India to obtain funds to help strengthen the Sri Lankan Rupee.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament today that India has already agreed to a currency swap while negotiations are underway with China and Japan.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has agreed to provide USD 400 mn to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) under its SAARC SWAP facility, CBSL had announced yesterday.

Wickremesinghe confirmed this and said that India is considering providing more funds to Sri Lanka.

He also denied claims that the funds were being provided by India as part of a deal to handover some key state institutions to India.

The Prime Minister also said that Sri Lanka is looking?raise USD 500 million through Panda bonds’ in China and ?Samurai bonds’ in Japan.

He also said that Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera will look to negotiate more funds during a visit to the US next week.

The Prime Minister said the foreign funds will help strengthen the Sri Lankan Rupee which has been depreciating against the USD in recent weeks, and also boost the economy. (Colombo Gazette)

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