MUMBAI: Sri Lanka's central bank left its key policy rates steady on Thursday amid the renewed challenges posed by the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and said it remains committed to maintaining the current accommodative monetary policy stance.

"The third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the ongoing recovery of economic activity," the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said in a statement.

On account of the "prevailing low inflation environment and well-anchored inflation expectations" alongside the pandemic-related challenges, "the board remains committed to maintaining the current accommodative monetary policy stance to support the sustained revival of the economy", it said.

Although COVID-19 case numbers have eased slightly from a record increase of 2,672 cases on May 9, the South Asian island nation has been reporting 2,200 infections or more every day in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

CBSL kept the standing deposit facility rate and the standing lending facility rate at 4.50% and 5.50%, respectively. The statutory reserve ratio was also left unchanged at 2%.