Sri Lanka will be raising 60 billion yen (US$500 million) by issuing 10-year Samurai bonds by mid next month hopefully before the Presidential elections, Central Banka Governor Dr. Coomaraswamy disclosed.
The Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) will provide a 95 per cent guarantee on these Samurai bonds.
The CB has already appointed three joint lead managers Mizuho Securities Company Ltd, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc and Mitsubishi, and UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd for the bond issuance with the approval of the cabinet.
In another major development in state economic data processing field, six task forces with representatives of the CB are reviewing the process of computation of economic statistics.
The present process of data collection and computation of data particularly with respect to estimates of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) by the Department of Census and statistics will be overhauled in accordance with the recommendations of the task forces, he said.
Meanwhile Monetary Board of the Central Bank at its meeting held on Thursday, decided to maintain the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank at their current levels of 7 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.
(LI)