Sri Lanka’s official reserve assets rose 3.2% during October to US$7,086 million, according to Central Bank data reported on Friday.
Reserves stood at US$6,867 million at the end of September and climbed to US$7,086 million by the close of October, Hiru News reported, citing figures from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The increase works out to US$219 million over the month, consistent with the 3.2% figure reported.
That takes the stock above the US$6.9 billion the Central Bank recorded at the end of September, a level it had described as a five-month high when reserves reached it in August.
What the figure does not say
The report does not state whether the October total includes the currency swap facility with the People’s Bank of China. That distinction matters: a substantial share of headline reserves is made up of the PBOC swap, which carries conditions on when it can be drawn, and the Central Bank has previously set the swap out separately when reporting reserves to Parliament.
Nor does the report break down what drove the rise — whether net foreign exchange purchases by the Central Bank, loan disbursements, remittances or revaluation effects. In recent months the Central Bank has attributed gains mainly to its own purchases from commercial banks.
Context
Reserves have recovered from roughly US$1.8 billion in the depths of the 2022 crisis. Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe has said the bank is rebuilding reserves gradually rather than defending a particular exchange rate, and the rupee depreciated 6.8% over the year to October.
The Central Bank’s own External Sector Performance release for October had not been published at the time of writing; its most recent edition covers September.
