Sri Lanka’s external sector showed a mixed performance in August 2017. Although export earnings increased in August 2017, higher growth in import expenditure resulted in an expansion of the trade deficit. Despite the increase in tourist earnings in August 2017, the decline in workers’ remittances together with the expanded trade deficit dampened the performance of the external current account. However, the financial account of the Balance of Payments (BOP) was supported by the receipt of the second tranche of the foreign currency term financing facility to the government along with continued foreign inflows to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the government securities market in August 2017.
Published Date:
Tuesday, October 17, 2017