Colombo, Oct 11 - Citing strong economic growth, Sri Lanka's Central Bank has decided to leave its monetary policy and repo rates for October unchanged, the bank said in a statement Tuesday.

The Monetary Board at its monthly meeting decided to maintain the policy interest rates of the Central Bank at their current levels. Accordingly, the bank's Repurchase rate remains at 7 percent while the Reverse Repurchase rate remains at 8.50 percent, reported Xinhua.

The Central Bank indicated that the economy and markets, especially money, are stable. It said inflation continued to moderate with the year-on-year change in the Colombo Consumers' Price Index declining from 7.0 percent in August to 6.4 percent in September 2011.

Annual average inflation increased marginally from 7.1 percent in August to 7.2 percent in September.

As per provisional data, both earnings from exports and expenditure on imports grew further on a year-on-year basis in August 2011.

Increased remittances, higher earnings from tourism, as well as other inflows to the services account continue to cushion the impact of the trade deficit on the overall balance of the Balance of Payments.

Substantial amounts of foreign inflows on account of direct investments, equity investments and other inflows to the private sector are expected during the remainder of the year.

"The recent announcement of the discovery of natural gas deposits in the Mannar basin although further research is required to assess its commercial viability is likely to raise investor attention on Sri Lanka further," the bank said in the statement. (IANS)