June 25, Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has issued a detailed press statement aiming to create public awareness about the operational and policy measures undertaken by the Bank so far during 2020, to support the economy, the financial system and the general public in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement titled “The Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 Relief Measures: How are we helping the Country, Economy and YOU?” says the Central Bank actively took steps to ease the burden on the general public during this unprecedented disruption of global scale, while preserving the focus on its legal mandate to maintain economic, price and financial system stability.

Following are some measures taken by the Central Bank:
1. Reduce interest rates, enhance market liquidity, and finance the government,
2. Manage foreign exchange flows, maintain exchange rate stability and preserve international reserves,
3. Maintain financial system stability and enhance credit flows,
4. Ensure uninterrupted currency operations and payments and settlements activities, and
5. Manage the public debt.

Some of these measures were introduced to operationalize the decisions taken by the government.

Measures to reduce interest rates, enhance market liquidity, and finance the government were aimed at supporting economic activity in the context of a low inflation environment.

Full Statement