Sri Lanka meets all June-end IMF loan targets-cbank

COLOMBO, June 29 | Fri Jun 29, 2012 8:08am EDT

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka has met all June-end targets set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the last tranche of a $2.6 billion loan, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on Friday.

“We have met all the targets. Net domestic financing, net internal reserves, and the reserve money targets have been met,” Cabraal told Reuters.

After concluding a two-week assessment, an IMF mission on June 15 said Sri Lanka’s policy measures including policy rate hikes, flexible exchange rate, and credit restrictions have been yielding results.

If satisfied, the global lender will disburse the last tranche of the $2.6 billion loan — around $420 million — by mid July.

Currency dealers in the last two weeks said the rupee currency, which hit a fresh record low on Thursday, has been under severe pressure as the central bank continuously bought dollars to meet the net internal reserves target.