Sri Lanka's Northern Province shows slight economic growth in 2009

Economy of Sri Lanka's war-battered Northern and Eastern Provinces has shown growth albeit small since the end of the war, figures released by the Statistics Department of Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) today showed.



The contribution to country's GDP from Northern Province grew 0.1 percent from 3.2 percent in 2008 to 3.3 percent in 2009.

Eastern Province where the conflict ended in 2007 showed a 0.2 percent increase in the GDP in 2009 to record a contribution of 5.8 percent.

The Western Province made the highest contribution to GDP in 2009 although its share reduced from 45.4 percent in 2008 to 45.1 percent last year.

The North Central Province showed significant economic growth from 9.9 percent in 2008 to 10.3 percent in 2009 switching places with the Southern Province in 2009 to be the second highest contributor to the GDP.

Southern Province contribution declined from a 10.5 percent in 2008 to a 10.2 percent in 2009. The contributions of the Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces to GDP also decreased in 2009.

North Central and Uva provinces also recorded improvements, even though the contribution of each of these three provinces to total GDP still remained at a level less than 6 per cent.

The Northern, Eastern, North Western, North Central and Uva provinces recorded nominal growth rates of GDP in 2009. Although Western province made the highest contribution to GDP, it grew relatively slowly by 8.7 per cent compared to the provinces such as the Northern, Uva and North Central, the Central Bank said.

The Western province contributed significantly to GDP in the country, as most of the economic activities that relate to sea port, air ports, banking and financial institutions and business centers are still centralized in the province.

According to the figures, the per capita income in the Western province which stood at US$ 3,259 was 1.6 times the national per capita income both in 2008 and 2009. All other provinces continued to fall below the national per capita income.