Central Bank appeals to overseas Sri Lankan to help in current crisis

The Central Bank on Thursday appealed to overseas Sri Lankan and locally-based Sri Lankans with foreign currency assets to invest their money in Sri Lankan banks and finance companies to help the country stave off an impending foreign currency crisis.
The appeal, made with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers, invited Sri Lankan living abroad and here with foreign currency savings to invest during a period of three months starting from April 2. “Your foreign currency deposits in the Sri Lankan banking system at this difficult stage will be of immense help to authorities to tide over the present crisis,” it said in a statement to the media.
The Central Bank said that invested foreign currency deposits will be accepted without any hindrance from the Government, the Central Bank or any government authority. Analysts said that by this statement, the government was implying that the source of the funds will not be questioned.
“We also guarantee the future convertibility of these deposits into foreign currency whenever you desire to do so. All your foreign remittances will be exempted from exchange control regulations and protected under banking secrecy provisions,” the statement said.
It said that such remittances would go a long way to promote people’s welfare during the current period of the still spreading COVID-19, and economic revival in the immediate aftermath.
The Central Bank said the Cabinet has decided to suspend all restrictions on foreign inflows into Sri Lanka for the next three months starting April 2. 
The country’s foreign reserves is equivalent to 4.5 months of imports but has been under pressure over the past two weeks due to an outflow of foreign currency. The rupee was trading at over Rs 191 per dollar in the money markets.