Sri Lanka policy interest rate
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka's SINGLE policy interest rate — the rate the Monetary Policy Board sets to signal and operationalise the monetary policy stance under the Flexible Inflation Targeting framework of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Act, No. 16 of 2023 (inflation target 5%, agreed in the Monetary Policy Framework Agreement of October 2023). Reviewed roughly every two months (six scheduled Monetary Policy Reviews a year).
| Current value | 8.75 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-05-26 |
| Official source | CBSL — Monetary Policy Review: No. 03 – May 2026, 26 May 2026: 'The Monetary Policy Board, at its meeting held yesterday, decided to increase the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 100 bps to 8.75%' |
| Last verified | 2026-07-24 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
FRAMEWORK TRAP — read this before citing any Sri Lankan 'policy rate'. Effective 27 November 2024 the Central Bank of Sri Lanka abandoned its DUAL policy-rate corridor and moved to a SINGLE policy interest rate. Monetary Policy Review No. 06 of November 2024 states verbatim: 'Effective 27 November 2024, the Central Bank also moved to a single policy interest rate mechanism from its dual policy interest rate mechanism. Accordingly, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR), set at 8.00 per cent, will serve as the primary monetary policy tool... with this transition to the single policy interest rate mechanism, the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) will no longer be considered policy interest rates of the Central Bank.' SDFR and SLFR still EXIST as the rates on the overnight standing facilities, but they are now mechanically pinned to the OPR at a fixed margin of +/- 50 bps and carry no independent policy signal: at the current OPR of 8.75% they are 8.25% (SDFR) and 9.25% (SLFR), as stated in footnote 1 of the May 2026 review. Any source that presents SDFR or SLFR as 'the' Sri Lankan policy rate is using the superseded pre-27-November-2024 framework. NOTE THE BRIEF THAT LAUNCHED THIS FILE WAS WRONG ON TIMING: the framework change was November 2024, not 2025 — verified against the CBSL press release itself. DIRECTION OF TRAVEL: the 100 bps hike on 26 May 2026 was a TIGHTENING and the first OPR increase since the instrument was created; it reversed a long easing cycle. The Board cited 5.4% (y-o-y) April 2026 inflation driven by sharp upward adjustments to domestic energy prices after the Middle East conflict pushed up petroleum, plus credit-driven import demand and rupee depreciation pressure. HELD at 8.75% at the next review (Monetary Policy Review No. 04 – July 2026, decision 21 July, announced 22 July 2026), with June 2026 headline inflation at 6.8% and gross official reserves USD 6.45bn. Effective date: CBSL does not print a separate 'with effect from' line for OPR changes; the decision is taken the day before the release and the release date is used here (meeting 25 May 2026, release 26 May 2026). Next scheduled review: 30 September 2026. All reviews: https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/en/press-releases/monetary-policy-review
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-11-27 | 8 | CBSL — Monetary Policy Review: No. 06 – November 2024, 27 No |
| 2025-05-22 | 7.75 | CBSL — Monetary Policy Review: No. 03 – May 2025, 22 May 202 |
Get it programmatically
curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/lk/policy-rate
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/lk/policy-rate/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://asiaref.dev/provenance/lk/policy-rateOther Sri Lanka series: VAT rate · minimum wage · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates