The Central Bank launched a robust Communication Programme in the USA with the engagement of the Thompson Advisory Group LLC (TAG), from March 2013 to June 2014, and the subsequent engagement of the Liberty International Group LLC from August 2014 onwards.

The Communication Programme has been fashioned to create and maintain a conducive political and economic environment in the USA to enhance Sri Lanka’s long-term political and economic aspirations, and to develop a comprehensive information platform where decision makers in the USA would receive clear and accurate information about conditions in Sri Lanka so that it would serve to attract a higher volume of private sector investments. The Communication Programme of the Central Bank has been devised in accordance with the Monetary Law Act’s mandatory objectives of realizing economic and price stability and financial system stability, as well as encouraging and promoting the development of productive resources of Sri Lanka.

Over the past several years, after the end of the conflict, the Central Bank has observed with deep concern, the massive and well funded adverse publicity generated by an organized group of the diaspora, certain sections of the local and international media, and a few local and international non-governmental organizations, which, if left unchecked and unchallenged, could have the potential to erode the confidence among international investors and thereby adversely affect the stability of the country’s economy. In that background, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank decided to engage the services of a professional agency to assist the Central Bank to convey an accurate and realistic position regarding the political and economic conditions in Sri Lanka. Such effort was considered all the more important since the US investments in Sri Lanka in terms of Government Securities, International Sovereign Bonds, Portfolio Investments, and Direct Investments, are substantial.

The robust communication efforts carried out over the past several months, have been helpful to provide a more balanced understanding of the Sri Lankan political and economic conditions among a considerable number of top level US leaders including Senators and Congressmen, Think Tanks, Trade Associations, and the US general public. As a result, satisfactory results are being achieved, with considerable investments being made by several US investors, particularly in the banking sector, while a more balanced view on Sri Lanka is also being taken by a greater number of US leaders, intellectuals and citizens.