Sri Lankan market’s ability to allow assets to be bought and sold become more easy during the week ending May 24 with the country’s economy gaining momentum gradually a month after Ester terror blasts rocked the island nation.
The country’s reserve money showed increase, commercial banks prime lending rates (AWPR) offered to prime customers decreased and the rupee appreciated during this period, Central Bank announced.
Weekly AWPR for the week ending 24 May 2019 decreased by 21 bps to 11.93% compared to the previous week, CB said.
The reserve money increased compared to the previous week mainly due to the increase in deposits held by the commercial banks.
The total outstanding market liquidity was a surplus of Rs. 72.783 bn by end of the week, compared to a surplus of Rs. 73.996 bn by the end of last week.
During the year up to 24 May 2019 the Sri Lanka rupee appreciated against the US dollar (3.4 per cent). Given the cross currency exchange rate movements, the Sri Lanka rupee appreciated against the pound sterling (3.6 per cent), Japanese yen (2.7 per cent), the euro (5.8 per cent) and the Indian rupee (3.1 per cent) during this period.
During the period, crude oil prices largely followed a decreasing trend. Prices decreased mainly as China-U.S. trade tensions dampened the demand outlook. Overall, Brent and WTI prices fell by US$ 3.8 per barrel and US$ 4.8 per barrel within the period.
This will force the finance ministry to bring down the fuel prices in accordance with the pricing formula , official sources said.
(LI)