Reserves Rise to $5.7 Billion by June 2024

COLOMBO (News 1st)l Sri Lanka's Gross Official Reserves (GOR) have increased to USD 5.7 billion by the end of June 2024, up from USD 4.4 billion at the end of 2023. 

This rise includes a swap facility from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which comes with certain conditionalities on usability. 

The increase in GOR was primarily driven by net purchases of USD 1.8 billion by the Central Bank from the domestic foreign exchange market during the first half of 2024, and the receipt of approximately USD 336 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the completion of the second review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement. 

The GOR now covers 3.9 months of imports as of the end of June 2024.