Sri Lanka Central Bank presents the road map for 2010

Colombo: The Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank, Ajith Nivard Cabraal today in its road map presented the Bank's performance in 2009 and the projected plans for 2010.

In his presentation titled "Road Map: Monetary and Financial Sector Policies for 2010 and beyond" the Governor reviewed the key economic developments in 2009 and the policy actions the Bank has taken to face the challenges posed by the global economic downturn. He also set out the policies and programmes for this year 2010 and further.

Presenting the statistics for the past year the Governor said Sri Lanka's economy grew by 2.6% in the first three quarters of the year, and is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2009 although the negative impact of the global economic crisis hindered growth prospects.

During the first nine months of 2009 the government's recurrent expenditure in terms of GDP increased to 16.5% from the original target of 15.8%. The government has adopted many measures to maintain the budget deficit at 7% of GDP in 2009, the Governor pointed out.

The Bank aims to reduce the budget deficit to 5% of GDP by 2011which was a condition set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when it granted the 2.5 billion dollar loan in July 2009.

Among the measures slated for 2010 are setting-up an Import/Export (EXIM) Bank, introduction of new legislation to strengthen the legal framework in relation to system stability, introduction of measures to supervise banking groups and face the risk of GSP+ withdrawal.