FILE PHOTO: People walk past the main entrance of the Sri Lanka’s Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo
March 12, 2022
By Uditha Jayasinghe
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank tightened trade restrictions on Saturday, ordering exporters to repatriate foreign exchange earnings within 180 days of transactions in a bid to improve country’s depleting foreign exchange reserves.
Sri Lanka is tackling its worst financial crisis in over a decade, struggling to pay for critical imports including fuel, food and medicines and with just $2.31 billion of reserves.
The bank’s moves include mandatory currency conversion for exporters of goods and services to change their foreign exchange earnings into Sri Lankan rupees.
“All licensed banks are required to strictly monitor receipts of goods to Sri Lanka,” the…
