COLOMBO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has sufficient stocks of the U.S. dollar to prevent the dollar from rising further and keep the Sri Lankan rupee stable, local media quoting State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said.

Siyambalapitiya said here Monday that if the value of the U.S. dollar rose significantly, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had sufficient stocks to control it.

"The value of the U.S. dollar is rising rapidly due to several foreign banks operating in Sri Lanka who are buying U.S. dollars from the financial market and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka," Siyambalapitiya said.

The official said the central bank had bought around 1.62 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of this year and there was no need for the central bank or other foreign financial institutions to buy dollars at this time.

The dollars were purchased to strengthen the export market and there were sufficient stocks now in the country, the state minister said.

As a result, Sri Lanka's foreign reserves now stood at 5.5 billion dollars, Siyambalapitiya further said. Enditem

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