‘Is the CBSL selling SL’s gold reserves?’ - Harsha De Silva
07 Jan 2022
‘Is the CBSL selling SL’s gold reserves?’ - Harsha De Silva
07 Jan 2022
Harsha claims gold reserves drop from $ 384 m to $ 382 m
By Ruwani Fonseka Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dr. Harsha de Silva openly questioned the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) via a Twitter post yesterday (6) as to whether the current gold reserves of $ 382.2 million will be sold in part or full.“Is the CBSL about to sell all or part of the remaining $ 382.2 million gold reserves of Sri Lanka?” Dr. de Silva questioned in his Tweet.He further added in his comments the data of the reserves as at 5 January 2022, on which the gold reserves were at $ 384.1 million and had dropped down to $ 382.2 million.The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) released a receipt of the ¥ 10 billion (equivalent to $ 1.5 billion) currency swap to the CBSL last week, increasing the official foreign reserves of Sri Lanka to $ 3.1 billion, according to the CBSL. Meanwhile, two days ago, the CBSL stated that it has allocated $ 500 million for the servicing of an international sovereign bond (ISB) that is reaching its maturity on 18 January 2022.The announcement was made by CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal via a Twitter post on Wednesday (5). In his Tweet, Cabraal said that it was a shame that some investors lost out due to the spread of organised negativity by certain vested interests.On 17 December, downgrading Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to “C” from “CCC”, Fitch Ratings stated that they believe it will be difficult for the Government to meet its external debt obligations in 2022 and 2023 in the absence of new external financing sources.
