SriLanka, May 24 -- The Sri Lankan rupee has long behaved less like a stable currency and more like a high-altitude barometer of national anxiety. Just when the country thought it had navigated the worst of its 2022 historical macroeconomic volatility, entering 2026 with a sense of fragile equilibrium and hard-won stability, the currency market reminded everyone of its capacity for sudden, violent disruptions.

During the third week of May 2026, the rupee went on a roller-coaster ride that triggered collective flashbacks to the catastrophic collapse of 2022. By Thursday, May 21, the currency had rapidly careened towards a year-to-date depreciation of nearly 10 percent, with interbank spot rates crashing past Rs. 342-350 per US dollar.

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