People walk past the main entrance of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
COLOMBO Reuters - The Central Bank of Sri LankaCentral Bank of Sri Lanka CBSL raised its key rates by a full percentage point on Thursday to tackle record high domestic inflation and to contain any build-up of adverse inflation expectations.
The Standing Lending Facility Rate was raised to 15.50%, while the Standing Deposit Facility Rate rose to 14.50%.
The Board was of the opinion that this policy adjustment would help guide inflation expectations to be anchored around the targeted level of headline inflation over the medium term, while curtailing any build-up of demand pressures in the economy, CBSL said in its statement.
The island of 22 million people is struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, fertilisers, food and medicine because of a severe foreign exchange shortage.