Sri Lanka ends ban on foreign exchange transactions

Colombo, March 23

The Sri Lankan central bank has lifted a ban on foreign exchange transactions and allowed banks to provide forward sale and purchase of foreign exchange facilities to importers.

Forward sale and purchase of foreign exchange are contractual agreements between two parties to exchange a pair of currencies at a specific time in the future, Xinhua news agency reported.

This new direction is expected to play a role in ending shortages of goods in the country.

On April 25, 2021, the central bank prevented commercial banks from selling dollars to customers for future transactions, causing significant issues for importers who found it difficult to order goods from abroad.

This move comes in the wake of a decision by the central bank to allow the Sri Lankan rupee to depreciate earlier this month.