Public help sought to identify parties engaged in unauthorised forex dealings

The Central Bank yesterday sought the assistance of the public to crack down on unauthorised money changers emphasising that any person or organisation engaging in foreign currency transactions without the Central Bank permission is an unlawful activity under Foreign Exchange Act No.1 of 2017.

The bank requested the public to provide information on unauthorised foreign currency dealings and stressed that permission to buy, sell and exchange foreign currency in Sri Lanka is granted only to authorised dealers and money changers appointed by the Central Bank.

“Therefore, if it is noted that any person, institution or any other entity is engaged in unauthorised foreign exchange dealings, the public is hereby requested to inform the Foreign Exchange Department of the CBSL via the following telephone numbers or email address,” a Central Bank statement said.
The telephone numbers are: 0112398827/0112477375/0112398568. The email address is [email protected].

Sri Lanka’s worker remittance income for the month of January fell over 60 percent, as migrant workers continue to send their money through informal channels, due to the significantly higher parallel interest rates offered by the operators of these channels.