GDP growth clocks 2.1% in 2Q though down from 7% last year

The economy in particular and Sri Lanka overall are showing signs improvement as per some key data released.
This week the Department of Census and Statistics said the economy in the second quarter grew by 2.1%, higher in comparison to 1.5% achieved in the corresponding period of last year. First half growth was estimated at 1.8%.

Foreign Reserves tops $ 4 b to reach highest ever level Though the Department described the second quarter performance as commendable given the global and local difficulties, it is far below the 7% achieved in the first quarter of 2008.
The 2009 second quarter performance is also the lowest quarterly performance in recent years.
The Department said the second quarter is showing better performance than first quarter. It was achieved amidst a number of challenges due to global recession started with financial crisis. The major challenges were the lower demand and lower prices for exports of the country due to income decreases in the major buyers.
“The economy is showing positive performance for all three main sub sectors of Agriculture, Industry and Services of GDP,” the Department said. The industry sector grew by 3% and the services sector grew by 1.1% for the second quarter of 2009. Total agriculture sector has shown 4.4% growth.
Meanwhile the Central Bank on Monday said that the country’s gross official reserves surpassed the US dollars 4 billion level on 10 September 2009. This level of reserves is equivalent to over 4.4 months of imports and is the highest ever reserves level of Sri Lanka.
“With the renewed investor confidence and the continuation of the steady increase in foreign exchange inflows, the country’s external reserve position is expected to strengthen further in the coming months,” the Bank added.

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