On Friday, the bank raised its standing deposit facility rate and standing lending facility rate by 100 basis points each to 15.5 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively, it said in a statement.

The country is awaiting approval of a $2.9bn IMF bailout package as it endures its worst financial crisis since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.

Central bank Governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said with the rate increase all “prior actions” have been fulfilled and he was hopeful of the IMF bailout being approved within this month.

Sri Lanka has recently updated the amount of overall bilateral debt to US$ 10.84 billion 31 percent of the total external debt of $36 billion in 2022 in its efforts to lure financing assurances from them for debt restructure.

Only bilateral debt is considered at present for the debt restructuring process to obtain theUS$2.9 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility.

The bilateral creditors including China, India, Japan and Paris club member countries have expressed their willingness to restructure their debt amounting to US$10.814 billion, sources said

Meanwhile two groups of private creditors are now ready to hold international sovereign bond (ISB) debt restructuring negotiations with Sri Lankan authorities, as the finance ministry and the central bank have almost completed their debt treatment discussions with bilateral creditors.

The total ISB debt stock with arrears as at end of 2022 was $14.286 billion with different maturity periods and varied interest rates, finance ministry latest data shows