Sri Lanka’s external sector performance continued to improve in the month of December 2017, mainly with higher inflows to the Financial Account of the Balance of Payments (BOP). Although earnings from exports increased at a higher rate, the increase in import expenditure resulted in widening the trade deficit in December 2017. Continued inflows by way of tourist earnings and workers’ remittances, however, have contributed in curtailing the expanded trade deficit to a certain extent. Improvement in short-term and long-term capital inflows continued during the month. Reflecting the favourable developments in the external sector, the BOP recorded a surplus of US dollars 2,068 million in 2017, while gross official reserves of the country stood at US dollars 8.0 billion as at end 2017. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated by 2.0 per cent during 2017.
Thursday, February 22, 2018