Foreign investors buy Sri Lanka rupee bonds after selling for two weeks

ECONOMYNEXT – Foreign investors bought Sri Lanka rupee bonds for the first time in three weeks in the week ended on October 01, Central Bank data showed, amid a stable rupee.

With the latest inflows, the island nation has witnessed net foreign buying in 14 weeks in the last 16.

Offshore investors bought a net 1,821 million rupees (US$5.5 million) worth of Sri Lanka rupee bonds. They sold a net Rs.16.5 billion worth of rupee bonds in the last two weeks.

The inflows helped boost foreign holdings in government securities to 196.8 billion rupees.

Analysts said a stable local currency helped foreign buying last week.

The rupee had been steady for more than three years before the sharp depreciation in May with the Central Bank citing higher oil and vehicle imports amid a lingering conflict in the Middle East.

The rupee has fallen 6.2 percent through October 2 this year.

Globally, investors are cautious about economic growth due to the impact of the latest Middle East escalation.

The island nation has enjoyed a total inflow of around 57.5 billion rupees into rupee bonds so far this year, following a net inflow of 71.5 billion rupees last year.

The island nation has seen an uptick in inflation in the last six months following a nearly 50 percent hike in fuel prices.

The government raised fuel prices last week after reducing in the last weeks of June and August.

The Central Bank raised its key monetary policy rate by 100 basis points in May to curb inflationary pressure stemming from higher demand.

Before the May rate hike, the Central Bank kept its key policy rates steady since May 2025 after reducing them by 825 basis points over 24 months since June 2023 and foreign investors have been buying rupee bonds despite slight depreciation in the local currency (Colombo/October 08/2026)