2025 - Sri Lanka
2000 Rupee note
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
75th Anniversary
Stability for Prosperity

Click on image to see Note Security under Ultra-Violet illumination
Predominant Color : Blue with Light Green and Purple Size : 151 x 67 mm

Front: Landscape
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, building on the right with the Lighthouse Clock Tower in the foreground. CBSL 75th Anniversary logo on bottom left. Bottom left of center Colombo High-rise Skyline montage: Silhouettes of the Lotus Tower with Altair Building to its left and to its right One Galle Face development, Cinnamon Life, ITC building with bridge to a shorter Building (Silhouette best seen in UV-image).
Numeric 2000 upper left and lower right corners. At bottom center the value රුපියල් දෙදාහයි in Sinhala. இரண்டாயிரம் ரூபாய் in Thamil and TWO THOUSAND RUPEES in English, in three lines with decreasing font size.
In Top center in Sinhala, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA in English in three lines with decreasing font size. Below a horizontal rule even smaller font the Legend in 3 lines

Back: Portrait
Map of Sri Lanka with a Blue Water Lily (Nil Manel Nymphaea nouchali) bottom center.
A mosaic of dots of random size and filling the outline of the island of Sri Lanka on the map.
Microprint CBSL2000 within the larger dots and outside fill the Map outline. In the watermark space Above the Map Faintly 75 YEARS above STABILITY FOR PROSPERITY underlined with 1950-2025 in the middle.
Numeric 2000 horizontal at bottom left and vertical at top right.
රුපියල් දෙදාහයි in Sinhala, இரண்டாயிரம் ரூபாய் in Thamil and TWO THOUSAND RUPEES in English. in 3 lines on bottom left.
ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA in English, in 3 lines on top left
Decorative elliptical Guilloche motifs divided between left and right on upper part of background with two curves each with the text A credible and dynamic central bank contributing to the prosperity of the people of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Flag Lion facing right oriented up bottom right to register with image in front as a security feature.
Printer name DE LA RUE is absent.
Watermark: Lion on National Flag standing facing left outlined darker than paper with in right paw, a sword lighter than paper.
Security 5 mm wide with three windows; changes colour from blue to green when tilted. Includes images of the Colombo Lighthouse Clock Tower and the numeral 2000.
Micro-printing CBSL2000 As shown in photograph on right the note is not flat, around the security strip. In IBNS chat I was told this is very normal for wide segmented security threads. The Rs2000 has a 5mm strip much wider then Rs 5000 with only a 2.5mm strip which is flat.
UV Printing: Front: On a Blue background Serial Number on left in Green, on right in Yellow. A rectangular white highlight large numeric 2000 in blue lower right of center, Two vertical bands either side of center with geometric design in Green and Red. STABILITY FOR PROSPERITY in 3 rows in Red. Large 75 in Green Below with a bit of Red. The Silhouette of Colombo High-rise Skyline in Green with the Nelum Kuluna in Red.
Back: With a Green and Blue background the 5 and background elliptical design highlighted in Red including two curves with text.
Latent image: The Numeric value 2000 vertical on middle right front and horizontal bottom right back are difficult to see. On a color enhanced 1200 dpi scans can see 00 in front and 000 at back.
Durability Enhanced with a post-print varnish for improved longevity in circulation.
Replacement Notes None.

See also Security features on this note in CBSL Leaflet

Deno.	Date on BankNote	Finance Minister	CBSL Governor	First Serial #	Mintage in K
Rs.2000	2025-08-28	Anura Kumara Dissanayake	Nandalal Weerasinghe	CB00000001	50,000

* According to CBSL RTI 0134/2025 reply dated 2025-10-08
Thr Printing and delivery of this note is not complete.
Assuming under about 6% rejection by SNIM the last serial should be CB052

The commemorative note was officially presented to the Hon. President and Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, by the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, at the Presidential Secretariat on 2025-08-29.

Read my article Sri Lanka's New Rs.2000 Note: Stability for Prosperity in Sunday Times, Business Section, of 2025 September 7th.

Comments:

• First signature of the New President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, as Finance Minister.
• The usual legality statement has been shortened to just say This Note is issued on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka excluding and is legal tender in Sri Lanka for the payment of any amount , to enable it to be stated in all three languages fulfilling an agreement with Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in 2012. This a first since Dutch Kredit Brief had the legality in Dutch, Sinhala, and Thamil. (See media report). The designation of the Signatories has also been included in Thamil.
• The Sinhala and Thamil translate to Banknote which is a better word than Note when the the last part of the legality statement which describes its use as currency is excluded.
• According to CBSL RTI 0134/2025 reply
  Banknote was designed in DeLaRue, UK.
  In the Colombo High-rise Skyline montage: The three building immediatly to the right the Lotus Tower is the One Galle Face development. I had thought it was Trizen.
  The back design features a mosaic of geometric patterns filling the outline of Sri Lanka to form a unified image of the country, with the placed across the map. This distinctive visual texture also serves as a security feature, as intricate patterns and microtext "CBSL2000" within the circles make replication microtext difficult.
• The dots filling the map of Sri Lanka on the back are on a rectangular grid (21 rows 12 columns) The rows have from top to bottom have
  1 3 3 4 6 7 7 9 9 9 10 11 10 11   9   7   7   9 7 6 1 dots which are visible.
  1 3 3 4 6 7 7 9 9 9 10 11 10 11 11 11 10 10 8 7 1 including a dozen of them covered by the Blue Water Lily. Totalling 158. Maybe there is another dot under the 2000 in row 19.
  The current NPP government in the landslide victory on 2024 November 14th, General Elections won 159 seats using a circular compass as its logo.
  
• The Serial number including prefix written for the first time as a single entity. CB and 8 numeric digits. The merged the numeric part of the prefix with the serial number, effectively makes the Prefix Alphabetic CB, If it were still an alphanumeric prefix, it should have started CB01, rather than CB00.
• CBSL gave publicity to this issue only after it was presented to the President. My 2025 February RTI 0017/25 to find out what commemorative note or coin will be issued for the CBSL 75th Anniversary was Rejected with Boiler Plate statement : disclosure of the requested information would cause serious prejudice to the economy of Sri Lanka by disclosing prematurely decisions to change or continue government economic or financial policies..
• The inclusion of even a Silhouette of the Nelum Kuluna, the political emblem of the defeated SLPP is amusing. The inclusion of recognizable Silhouettes of a montage of few selected private Luxury apartment blocks in the same Colombo High-Rise Silhouette maybe inappropriate for a Public BankNote.
• 50 Million Notes or 100 Billion Rupees, or about 10% of current banknotes in circulation has been printed by this issue. With the IMF agreement not to issue new money, These notes will come into circulation only gradually as replacement to damaged notes, as they are removed from circulation.
• The two leading public banks were given a bundle each of the Rs2000 note on Friday 29th August to get the counting machines calibrated with no permission to release to public.
• This calibration is difficult as many different Security firms from many different countries have sold Banknote Counting and ATM machines to the banks and each type has to be independently calibrated for the new note. 3 months later I was told this was still not complete.
• Something about the Rs2000 denomination. The first note dated 2005 November 2nd was only issued almost an year later on 2006 October 17th.
• Almost 3 weeks after presentation to President it was released to public on 17th September after a press release on 15th September.
• On September 16th CBSL staff were issued complimentary one each an Rs2000 currency note with a low serial number in a folder packed and fastened in celopane on the left at the back.
  
• On 2025 November 30th there was a Facebook post with a surprised bank customer getting one from an ATM. The comments to that post reflect that most of the Public were unaware of the issue of a Rs2000/- note although the TV and print media had limited reporting on it. I have not got one yet from Circulation. The Commercial bank gives 2 on request as they have been only issued a small stock, as most of the counting machines and ATM can't still handle them, as reflected in notice on a Bank CDM on right.
• On 2026-01-13 a shopkeeper I spoke to about the Rs2000/- said that it can be confused with the Rs50 as both are Blue. The Rs2000 is 13% longer and it is a lot lighter blue, but that may not be noticeable when getting or giving a folded note or in poor light. I have had similar complaints of not being able to separate the Maroon Rs20 from the Purple Rs500 in the poor light.
• Warning On 2026-01-11 a fake Rs2000 was compared on FaceBook Post, showing no watermark and a segmented Security strip when illuminated from behind. Probably no UV printing as well. CBSL should give more publicity to this danger with better images.

The Thamil was encoded using Google Translate and eyeball OCR as I am sadly illiterate in Thamil. Please correct me if I am wrong.
The note will be scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.