The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is widely expected to hold interest rates steady this week, having raised them last year to their highest in more than two decades in order to fight runaway inflation while seeking an International Monetary Fund bailout.
With Sri Lanka's economy in the throes of the worst crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, the government is waiting for financing assurances from China, its largest bilateral lender, that would help clinch the $2.9 billion IMF package.
