LKR appreciated against US dollar by 12.8 during the year up to 18th August

During the year up to 18th August 2023, the Sri Lanka rupee appreciated against the US dollar by 12.8 per cent, according to the Weekly Economic Indicators of the Central of The Central Bank.

Given the cross currency exchange rate movements, the Sri Lanka rupee appreciated against the Japanese yen by 23.8 per cent, the pound sterling by 6.5 per cent, the Euro by 10.4 per cent and the Indian rupee by 13.2 per cent during this period, the report said.

However, it noted that during the period from January-June 2023, domestic financing increased to Rs. 1,122.6 bn compared to Rs. 947.1 bn in the corresponding period of 2022. Foreign financing amounted to Rs. 120.0 bn during period from January-June 2023, compared to the net repayment of Rs. 44.4 bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.

Meanwhile, primary and secondary market yield rates of T-Bills decreased during this week compared to the previous week and secondary market yield rates of T-Bonds have shown a mixed behavior

The outstanding stock of T-Bills and T-Bonds held by foreigners depicted a decrease of 6.03 per cent in rupee terms during the reporting week compared to the week before.

The weekly T-Bill auction was oversubscribed by 1.61 times during the reporting week.The total volume of secondary market transactions in T-Bills and T-Bonds had increased by 0.48 per cent in the reporting week compared to the week before.