Sri Lankan Rupee yesterday appreciated after recently hitting its all time lows against the US dollar consequent to the appointment of new Prime Minister and Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa by the President.
The Rupee has appreciated to Rs 175.82 against the US dollar after it had hit its lowest Rs. 177.32 against the dollar yesterday, the Central Bank said.
Meanwhile, financial analysts said there was heavy purchasing by local investors and selling by foreign institutions on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Yesterday’s net foreign outflow for the total stock market was Rs.3 billion, they pointed out.
The reason for this, they said, was that confidence is gradually growing among traders and local and foreign investors towards the new government.
Senior SLFP Parliamentarian S.B.Dissanayake said on the situation that market of buying and selling securities, commodities, options and other investments had been on a downtrend under previous regime because of lack of political and economic stability under the UNP rule.
Investors and foreign firms that flee the market due to rising tensions and uncertain political and economic calculus of former Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, are now bringing their investments and dollars to the country, he said. “President Sirisena and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa are indeed working hard to enable the policy environment for investments,” he said, “The investors have seen much needed political stability being established under the presence of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Rajapaksa.”
One can expect to see the rising of economic indexes as the traders will grow in confidence. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Rajapaksa are addressing the issue of how best to pursue domestic policies to maximise economic growth,”he said.