Sri Lanka considerably feels initial economic pressure-CB says

Sri Lanka is now feeling the initial economic pressure to a considerable extent particularly in the second half of this month following the COVID-19 outbreak, the Central Bank (CB) has said.
There was significant impact in the domestic foreign exchange market, CB’s external sector performance report for January, revealed.
A notable depreciation of the Sri Lanka rupee was observed, primarily due to speculative market behaviour and foreign investment outflows from the government securities market.
This has pushed up the indicative exchange rate, the mid-rate of buying and selling rates, to Rs. 189.55, up from Rs. 187.63 a week ago and from Rs. 177.48 a year ago, CB data showed.
The CB has undertaken a number of emergency operational and policy measures, including some intervention in the domestic foreign exchange market to tackle this situation.
These measures were the suspension of all personal motor vehicle and non-essential consumer goods imports, limiting issuance of foreign currency notes as travel allowance up to a maximum of US$5,000 and suspension of purchase of Sri Lanka International Sovereign Bonds by licensed banks in Sri Lanka.
The government established a fuel price stabilisation fund to maintain stable energy prices domestically, while enabling the utilisation of benefits accruing on account of the sharp decline in international crude oil prices more productively, the CB disclosed. (BS)