Sri Lanka: Technical Assistance Report-Liquidity Monitoring and Monetary Operations

The IMF South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) provided technical assistance (TA) to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) focusing on modernizing monetary operations framework and improving liquidity monitoring. Macroeconomic crisis, compounded by the pandemic, has created significant challenges for conducting monetary policy in Sri Lanka. Considering this, the mission proposed a phased approach for modernizing monetary policy instruments and operations, contingent on progress in ongoing debt restructuring, reducing financial stability risks, achieving macroeconomic stabilization, and improving CBSL’s balance sheet. A transitory model for monetary operations was recommended, centered on one week liquidity operations, while still envisaging a certain level of market segmentation. Key recommendations included introducing a single policy rate to strengthen monetary policy signaling, modifying Statutory Reserve Ratio, and operationalizing Standing Facilities to form an Interest Rate Corridor (IRC). In the later stages, when the CBSL can target aggregate liquidity, liquidity management should return to a mid-corridor system with Open Market Operations (OMO)s calibrated based on liquidity forecasts. These recommendations are designed to enhance monetary policy transmission, support the achievement of CBSL’s primary mandate of price stability, a prerequisite for macroeconomic stability and sustainable economic growth.