Sri Lanka is likely to raise the maximum retail prices of medicines by between 6% and 7% on June 30, Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa told EconomyNext on Wednesday, citing import and production costs that have climbed as the rupee weakened.
“The price revision will be considered on June 30. There could be a 6-7 percent price hike, but this has not been approved yet,” the minister was quoted as saying.
The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) is empowered to revise the maximum retail prices of gazetted drugs when the exchange rate moves by more than 5 percent against the rate prevailing at the last revision. The Central Bank’s indicative rate has fallen by around 8 percent over the past six months, pushing the formula into review territory. The last price change under the same regime was a 16 percent reduction in 2023.
Sri Lanka depends heavily on imports for its medicine supply. The island purchased US$667 million worth of pharmaceuticals last year, accounting for roughly 85 percent of the domestic market, according to figures cited by EconomyNext. Industry stakeholders have repeatedly warned that the long gap since the last revision, combined with currency weakness, was tightening importer margins to the point of shortages — concerns the Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry first publicly flagged on May 5.
While the NMRA pricing formula includes other inputs, EconomyNext said the exchange rate is the dominant variable in practice. The exchange-rate trigger has now been met, but the decision still requires NMRA board approval and a fresh gazette notification before any new maximum retail prices take effect.
The June 30 watchdate caps a sequence of public signals that a revision was coming. NMRA Chairman Specialist Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama confirmed on June 4 that procedures were already under way to revise prices for both imported and locally manufactured drugs, with adjustments expected for the roughly 60 categories of medicines whose maximum retail prices are set by gazette.
The minister’s 6-7% figure is the first specific magnitude attached to the revision. The currency context behind it has not eased: the rupee was trading around 337 to the US dollar this week before the Central Bank’s mandatory exporter-conversion gazette pulled it sharply higher on Wednesday. Whether that recovery, if sustained, narrows the size of the June 30 revision was not addressed in Wednesday’s remarks.
