Sri Lanka to Upgrade Sovereign Rating to Investment Grade

12th June 2010, www.dailynews.lk

As announced in the Central Bank Road Map 2010 and beyond, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will take the necessary steps to upgrade the country’s sovereign rating from the current B+ (stable)/B (positive) to an investment grade of BBB- or higher over the next four year period.

Towards this end, a carefully designed, forward looking and effective strategy with the participation and co-operation of the all stakeholders, country authorities, private sector business leaders, chambers and rating advisors, will be implemented.

For this purpose, the CBSL has now appointed the following high level Sovereign Rating Committee, which will make regular reviews on the developments of the economy and convey these improvements to the rating agencies through rating advisors to upgrade the country’s rating level.

The committee comprises Chairman - CBSL Deputy Governor, K.G.D.D. Dheerasinghe, Deputy Chairman - CBSL Assistant Governor, J. Mampitiya, CBSL Chief Economist and Economic Research Director, K.D. Ranasinghe, CBSL, Public Debt Superintendent, C.J.P. Siriwardena, Treasury Deputy Secretary, U.R. Seneviratne, Public Debt Additional Superintendent C.N. Wijayasekera, Brandix Lanka Ltd, Chief Executive Officer, Ashoff Omar, Nestle Lanka PLC, Managing Director, David Saudan, Ceylon chamber of Commerce, Chairman, Dr. Anura Ekanayake, Sri Lanka Banks’ Association, Secretary General Upali de Silva, Triad Advertising, Managing Director, Dilith Jayaweera and Lanka IOC Ltd., Managing Director K.R. Suresh Kumar.