Foreign investors sold around 6.2 million US dollars worth Sri Lanka government securities in the week ending November 20, recording a second weekly selling, Central Bank data showed, amid depreciation pressure on the rupee.
It was the third week foreigners have sold rupee bonds in the last 12. The foreign holding in government securities hit a two-year high early this month.
Foreigners sold 1,870 million rupees (USD 6.23 million at 1$=300 rupees) in the week after selling 920 million rupee worth of bonds in the previous week.
The selling comes amid gradual fall in the rupee in the recent past amid higher imports from strong private credit growth and central bank dollar purchase to boost foreign exchange reserves.
The foreign holdings hit a two year high on the week November 6, recording over 141 billion rupees.
The island nation, however, has witnessed inflows to a net 31,952 million rupees (106.5 million dollars) in the last 13 weeks.
Sri Lanka suffered an outflow of 10.1 billion rupees ($32 million) in the two weeks soon after Donald Trump’s tariff declaration in the first week of April and the rupee has fallen slightly since then.
The island nation has enjoyed a total inflow of around 69.3 billion rupees (around $231 million) into rupee bonds since December 26 last year through November 20, the data showed.
Sri Lanka’s deflationary policies have helped to see inflows amid curtailed imports, analysts have said.
The country witnessed foreign outflows worth 48.2 billion rupees in 2024 with 66 percent or 78.1 billion rupees worth outflow from the government securities in the first nine months of last year.