The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported selling USD 223.3 million in the domestic foreign exchange market during May 2026. After purchasing USD 12 million during the same period, the net amount of dollars sold by the Central Bank for the month totalled USD 211.3 million. This marks the largest monthly dollar sale conducted by the CBSL since 2024.

The scale of this intervention is significant when compared to previous years. The amount sold in May 2026 alone exceeds the total dollar sales for the entire year of 2025 (USD 205.3 million) and the total for 2024 (USD 183 million). This represents a sharp reversal from the previous two years, during which the Central Bank was a major net purchaser of foreign currency, buying USD 2,812 million in 2025 and USD 3,028.78 million in 2024.

The year 2026 initially began with the Central Bank aggressively purchasing dollars from the market. In January 2026, the Bank sold only USD 9.50 million, and in February, it performed no dollar sales at all. However, the landscape shifted in late February as the impact of the conflict in the Middle East began to exert downward pressure on the Sri Lankan Rupee. To manage this exchange rate pressure, the CBSL was forced to begin selling dollars back into the market.

For the first five months of 2026, the Central Bank's cumulative actions are as follows:

• Total Dollars Purchased: USD 886.10 million.
• Total Dollars Sold: USD 400.20 million.
• Net Purchases: USD 485.90 million.

Furthermore, the Central Bank reported that the year-to-date depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against the US dollar reached 7.8 percent as of 05 June 2026.