The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) entered into a Bilateral Agreement on the 24^th July 2014 which enables CBSL to further diversify its reserves management activities into Indian rupee denominated assets, while reciprocally, RBI is able to access the Sri Lankan government securities market, up to a maximum value equivalent of US dollars 500 million, each way.  As a result, the CBSL could now access one of the growing securities markets in the world, realising a considerably higher return for the funds invested.  At the same time, the RBI investments in the Sri Lankan government securities market would lead to greater stability in the Sri Lankan government bond market.

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal exchanged the Bilateral Investment Agreement with the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Raghuram Rajan, on the sidelines of the SAARCFINANCE Governors’ Symposium.

This historic agreement also set the stage for the Central Bank Economists’ Meeting due to commence on the 25^th July 2014, in Colombo which is on the theme “Reaping Mutual Benefits through Intra-regional Investments of Reserves”.