p nandalal weerasinghe : sri lanka's sustained economic growth keynote speech by dr p nandalal weerasinghe, governor of the central bank of sri lanka, at the 37th opa annual conference " sri lanka's sustained economic growth ", colombo, 26 august 2024. * * * it gives me great pleasure to be joining you all today at this event and i extend my best wishes to the organisation of professional associations of sri lanka ( opa ) on the occasion of the annual conference themed'sri lanka's sustained economic growth '. i think it is a very relevant and timely topic this gathering comes at a pivotal moment as sri lanka emerges from one of the most challenging economic crises in its post - independence history. despite these hurdles, the economy has regained its normalcy to a greater extent within a shorter period. this progress is not by chance but is the result of coordinated, transparent, and robust measures undertaken by the central bank of sri lanka and the government, supported by numerous public and private stakeholders even like opa as well as international agencies and lenders and our creditors. a key driver of our progress has been restoration of macroeconomic stability, achieved through a sound monetary policy measure, strong fiscal consolidation measures and implementation of long - overdue structural reforms. these efforts have created a conducive environment for growth as we move forward. consequently, the sri lankan economy broke a six - quarter streak of contractions in the second half of 2023 and has recorded positive growth since then. leading indicators signal that this growth momentum is set to continue, underpinned by strong macroeconomic fundamentals. on the inflation front, inflation, which had peaked at an all - time high in september 2022 to 70 per cent, reverted to single digit levels within a year as a result of monetary policy tightening and inflation remained closer or below the targeted level since then. considering the low inflation, well - anchored inflation expectations and moderation of external sector pressures, the central bank began its monetary policy easing in mid of 2023 with a view to supporting the economy reaching its potential. the central bank's monetary policy stance continues to be accommodative aligning with softened inflationary pressures. as per the current projections based on available information at present the inflation is expected to be well below the target of 5 % until first quarter of 2025 before stabilising around the targeted level later in 2025. though, it is technically inflation target miss on

ajith nivard cabraal : standards, codes and rules – friend or foe of poor nations? presentation by mr ajith nivard cabraal, governor of the central bank of sri lanka, at the luncheon of the commonwealth finance ministers ’ meeting, colombo, 12 september 2006. * * * your excellencies, honourable ministers, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the central bank of sri lanka, it is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to sri lanka and to host this luncheon today. i hope all of you had a pleasant journey and have been able to settle down well in our city so as to be ready to face the rigours of the tight programme that is ahead of you over the next few days. i am also delighted that i have the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon, knowing that it has provided me the platform to share some thoughts with a very diverse group that constitutes the commonwealth. as we all know, the family of commonwealth countries is a truly global, multi - ethnic, multi - religious, multi - cultural, multi - national collection of vastly differing economies, societies and political ideologies. it may also be not inappropriate to state that the commonwealth is enriched greatly by this diversity. at the same time, we have to be mindful that the countries within this group are at various stages of economic development, ranging from poor developing nations with annual per capita incomes of about us dollars 160 to very wealthy industrialized nations with per capita incomes of about us dollars 36, 000. hence, although we may, in general, say that we derive our strength through diversity, we still have to take serious note that the great disparity in living standards is an issue that needs to be uppermost in our minds if we are to move forward in harmony and brotherhood. in that context, i think it is very appropriate that, this year, the commonwealth finance ministers have decided to focus on several dimensions and options that impact on this issue, which is borne out of the fact that they have selected “ agenda for growth and livelihood ”, as this year ’ s theme for the meeting. your excellencies, distinguished delegates, in order to critically examine the issue of wealth disparity in perspective, let us take our minds back to the commonwealth heads of government meeting in singapore in the year 1971. at that meeting, the declaration of commonwealth principles was adopted. these principles acknowledged that wide disparities in wealth existed between different sections of