President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived at the Central Bank premises in Colombo a short while ago.

They were expected to take part in a meeting of the Monetary Board, sources said.

This comes just hours after the President's announcement that a new Central Bank Governor will be appointed to replace Arjuna Mahendran, who has been accused of corruption.

Mahendran recently informed the Monetary Board that he will not bee seeking a service extension until his name has been cleared by the COPE. His term ends on June 30 (tomorrow).

A new Governor will be named within hours, the President had said this morning at a meeting in Girandurukotte.