(Updates with details, background)
MUMBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s central bank left its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday and re-affirmed its commitment to maintain a low interest rate structure until the economy shows signs of a sustained recovery.
It said the monetary board noted the recent slowdown in credit disbursements to the private sector and inadequate lending to productive sectors of the economy.
It stressed the need for the financial system to lend to productive sectors in order to support the ongoing recovery of domestic production.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) kept the standing deposit facility rate and the standing lending facility rate at 4.50% and 5.50%, respectively. The statutory reserve ratio was also left unchanged at 2%.
Investors see rising chances that the Bank of Canada would hike interest rates next year as the economic outlook improves, but the central bank is likely to push back against those bets for now, pointing to still high unemployment, analysts say.
A gauge of global stocks dipped in choppy trading on Monday as investors eyed the yield on U.S. Treasuries for signs of inflation pressures in the wake of the U.S. Senate's passage of a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill.
South Africa's rand fell slightly in early trade on Monday, as the dollar hovered near three-month highs after the U.S. Senate cleared a bumper stimulus bill, sparking a sell-off in the global bond market.