MBSL holds seminar on Currency Outlook and Forecast

The seminar ‘Currency Outlook and Forecast’, which was organised by the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka and Finance Plc (MBSL), successfully concluded at the auditorium of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies last week. 

With the intention of supporting the economic development of the country and emerging entrepreneurs, MBSL has initiated a program to carry out a series of seminars to educate stakeholders and the general public. Following the successful conclusion of the first seminar targeting the SME sector, the company conducted the second in its series of seminars last week. The seminar’s theme was based on the timely subject of ‘Currency Outlook and Forecast’. It featured eminent economists and private sector representatives. The keynote address was delivered by Institute of Policy Studies Executive Director Dr. Dushni Weerakoon. Frontier Research CEO/Founder Amal Sandaratne spoke on ‘The rupee outlook – Long-term view’. The panellists for the seminar were Dinesh De Silva - Immediate Past Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (Import section); Hasitha Premaratne - Group Finance Director of the Brandix Group and Sanjeewa Anthony - Executive Director of Jetwing Hotels Ltd.

Giving the recent volatility of the Sri Lankan rupee, the seminar provided an opportunity for directors, senior management teams, analysts, bankers and economists among others to obtain a balanced and comprehensive overview of the drivers underlying such movements and long-term outlook on the rupee’s direction.

MBSL entered the Sri Lankan financial sector as the country’s pioneer merchant bank in 1982 and was quoted on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 1991. It was subsequently registered as a licenced finance company under the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011 under the regulatory purview of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.  MBSL caters to a wide range of customers through its key business activities which include deposit mobilisation, savings, leasing, loans, corporate advisory and capital market services, trade and project finance, pawning and real estate through a widespread network of 49 customer touch points.  MBSL is a subsidiary of state-owned financial powerhouse Bank of Ceylon, which holds a strategic stake of 74%.