Sri Lanka’s central bank and Finance Ministry has approved four licenses to set up offshore banks in the China-backed Colombo Port City area, its regulatory commission said.
“The Monetary Board and Ministry of Finance have approved full the CPCEC regulated offshore licenses for 4 banks initially,” the Colombo Port City Economic Commission said.
“..[T]he Central Bank of Sri Lanka has created a new class of account available for all banks under its regulatory purview, the Colombo Port City Investment Account designed to facilitate the inflow of funds to be used for investing in Colombo Port City.”
The Port City area reclaimed by China Harbhour Engineering group is to be dollarized area free from the monetary instability and exchange controls coming from rupee open market operations of the central bank.
Six land leases valued at 200 million US dollars have been issued to investors, Colombo Port City Economic Commission said. They are expected to invest 600 million dollars.
The Colombo Port City Commission was also in talks with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) to set up an international commercial dispute resolution centre.
A duty free mall with remote check-in and baggage hauling services is also being set up. Two international operators will run it.
Source: Economy Next