nandalal is not an idiot, he has been with the IMF and also has expertise in handling high inflation and etc, this would have been the first step any economist would have done, US FEDS hiked interest rates along with money printing, and as russia's currency had depricated by 18%, Russia hiked interest rates to 20%, he is testing the market and the money flow on how people are asserting to the current situation, it can further increase, to suit the market conditions, this is to crush the undial/black market rates, as it would be more attractive now to have some valuation in the LKR.