Central Bank of Sri Lanka
An Active Friday in the Market Caused by Breaking Geopolitical News
October 11, 2019
An Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was the object of rocket attacks and is spilling oil. The missiles are believed to have been fired by Saudi Arabia. WTI crude oil rose 1.6% in response. British Prime Minister Johnson and Irish PM Varadkar after bilateral talks said they could see a pathway to a […] More
Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s Interest Rates Cut by 50 Basis Points in Mostly Unexpected Move
August 23, 2019
Friday brought word of another central bank rate cut. This time it involved the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The rate cut size was 50 basis points each to the key deposit rate (now 7.0%) and lending rate (now 8.0%). The cut follows a similarly sized reduction engineered in May, which together almost offset a […] More
Dollar Slightly Firmer as Markets Await Speeches from Powell and Other Central Bankers
August 23, 2019
The dollar climbed overnight by 0.4% against the Swiss franc and sterling and by 0.2% relative to the yen, euro and loonie. It’s unchanged on balance against the yuan but touched a new 11-year intra-day high of 7.0987 against the Chinese yuan. The peso and Australian dollar are unchanged against the greenback, while the kiwi […] More
Sri Lankan Interest Rates Cut
May 31, 2019
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka cut its interest rates by a half percentage point, citing the Easter terrorist attacks there, easier monetary policies elsewhere, downward rigidity in Sri Lankan market rates, slowing private sector credit expansion, a narrowed trade deficit, and subpar domestic growth. A recent uptick of inflation was dismissed as not being […] More
Financial Markets Feeling the Strain of A Breakdown in International Trade Relations
May 31, 2019
President Trump is imposing a tariff on all U.S. imports from Mexico in retaliation of that country’s failure to contain the flow of migrants crossing into the United States. China is ramping up its response to President Trump’s recent protectionist acts against Chinese exports and especially the action against Huawei. U.S.-EU trade talks also have […] More
Persistent Volatility as 2018 Winds Down
December 28, 2018
U.S. equities whip-sawed wildly in Thursday’s session, closing high. The upward direction carried into early Friday, with markets gaining 0.9% in Taiwan, 0.8% in India, 1.0% in Australia, 0.6% in South Korean, 0.4% in China and Hong Kong but dipping 0.3% in Japan. Markets in Europe are up so far 2.4% in Switzerland and between […] More
Intensifying Concern that Euro Area Is Drifting Into a Fresh Debt Crisis over Italy
October 2, 2018
A quote from European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker set the tone for trading today: “I would not wish that, after having really been able to cope with the Greek crisis, we’ll end up in the same crisis in Italy.” Ten-year sovereign debt yields, while dropping today by 3 basis points in France, Germany, The Netherlands, […] More
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
May 11, 2018
The Standing Lending Facility Rate had been reduced 25 basis points in April to 8.5%, but today’s policy review held that rate as well as the 7.25% Standing Deposit Rate steady this time, declaring the current stance “suitable” in a released statement . The goal is for inflation to stabilize in the mid-single digits, that […] More
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
April 4, 2018
The Standing Lending Facility Rate at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has been cut 25 basis points to 8.50%. By keeping the Standing Deposit Facility rate unchanged at 7.25%, the range between them has narrowed as a result. According to a released statement, inflation has decelerated as a result of softer food prices, inflation […] More
No Change Made in Sri Lankan Monetary Policy Stance
February 16, 2018
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s standing deposit facility rate and standing lending facility rate have been at 7.25% and 8.75% since an increase of 50 basis points in July 2016. That was the second such reduction of 2016 and along with an earlier move in February reversed two percentage points of easing engineered between […] More
