The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 07 April 2021, decided to maintain the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank at their current levels of 4.50 per cent and 5.50 per cent, respectively. The Board arrived at this decision after carefully considering the macroeconomic conditions and expected developments on the domestic and global fronts. The Board remains committed to maintaining the low interest rate structure, thereby ensuring continued support for a sustained economic recovery, in the context of the prevailing low inflation environment and well anchored inflation expectations.

Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) increased to 4.1 per cent in March 2021 from 3.3 per cent in February 2021. This was due to the statistical effect of the low base prevailed in March 2020. Meanwhile, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 9.6 per cent in March 2021 from 7.9 per cent in February 2021. Further, Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 1.8 per cent in March 2021 from 1.3 per cent in February 2021.