Sri Lanka trade deficit widens over US$ 3 billion in first seven months of 2010

Sri Lanka's trade deficit widened over US$ 3 billion during the first seven months of the year due to increased expenditure on imports, figures released today by Economic Research Department of Sri Lanka's Central Bank showed.
Earnings from exports had risen to US$ 656 million reflecting a growth of only 0.6 per cent in July 2010 while the expenditure on imports had increased by 25.3 per cent to US$ 1.177 billion in the month reflecting increases in all major categories of imports.

For the year, the exports have increased by 11.4 percent and expenditure on imports has grown by 39.2 percent.

According to the monetary authority, income from tea and minor agricultural exports have contributed to the healthy earnings in the agricultural sector but the earnings from industrial exports have declined marginally to US$ 483 million in July 2010.

During the first seven months of the year workers remittance has increased by 12.5 percent over that of the corresponding period of 2009, to US$ 2.141 billion.