CB says settled swap arrangement with RBI

The Central Bank said it settled a swap arrangement with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but refuted certain media reports that there was no special request from India to settle the facility prematurely.

“The CBSL settled its Swap facility with Reserve Bank of India as scheduled. There was no special request from India for a premature settlement as erroneously reported by certain media outlets. Discussions on future collaboration continue,” a tweet by the Central Bank said.

Sri Lanka entered into a US $ 400 million swap facility with RBI in July 2020, which at the time was available till November 2022.    

Sri Lanka’s foreign reserve position as of December 2020 was US $ 5.7 billion, which was adequate to cover 4.3 months of imports.

The diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and India have soured with Sri Lanka deciding to cut the involvement of Indians in the development the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port.