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The government has backtracked on a decision taken last week to reduce returns on savings instruments, following criticism from various quarters.
In a notification issued on Sunday, the Internal Resources Division (IRD) under the Ministry of Finance said the existing profit rates on government savings instruments will remain unchanged until June 30.
On December 30, the IRD had announced a reduction in returns on national savings instruments, lowering the maximum rate to 10.59 per cent and the minimum to 8.74 per cent.
Under that decision, the profit rates on the Family Savings Certificate, the most popular instrument under the National Savings Directorate (NSD), and the Pensioners' Savings Certificate were each cut by 1.39 percentage points.
Data from the NSD show that yields on pensioners' and family savings certificates had already declined to 11.80 per cent as of June 2025, from 13.19 per cent and 13.45 per cent respectively in 2015.
The government said the move to reduce interest rates was aimed at easing debt-servicing pressures amid a sharp rise in public debt.
syful-islam@outlook.com