Selling Of Sri Lanka's Gold Reserves: Central Bank Governor Denies

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Ajith Nivard Cabraal strongly denies the allegation that the CBSL was about to sell its gold reserves to pay off the country’s short term debts.

The allegation was made by the Opposition and United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing a public gathering in Kurunegala on September 13. He had reportedly said that the CBSL was about to sell off its gold reserves valued at some Rs. 1,400 million to pay off the country’s urgent debts.

"The story of planning to sell 38 metric tones of the gold from CBSL reserves is another deliberate lie", the Governor said in Colombo yesterday (September 14).

Meanwhile, the CBSL issuing a statement to the media says that the allegations are not genuine and it is an effort by certain parties to mislead the general public.

The following is the full statement issued by the CBSL Media Unit last evening:

"Recently, there have been allegations that the Central Bank is planning to sell large quantities of gold from its reserves. These allegations are malicious and are obviously made by certain interested parties who are attempting to mislead the public that the country’s reserves in gold are being sold confidentially in order to enable the Government to meet its expenses.

"The official international reserves of the country are managed by the Central Bank and held as foreign currency balances in reputed international banks overseas, foreign currency denominated instruments and gold.

"The Bank conducts transactions with foreign counterparts in all foreign assets, including gold, as a part of its international reserve management operations. These transactions are done in accordance with the Monetary Law Act.

"With the recent sharp increase in the reserve position, the Central Bank has further increased its gold holdings as part of its reserve management strategy.

The public is therefore notified that these allegations are blatantly false and should not be misguided by such false information."

- Asian Tribune -