The trade deficit declined significantly in December 2018 (year-on-year) with a notable deceleration in import expenditure. Exports grew by 1.4 per cent while imports fell by 15.3 per cent in December 2018 (year-on-year).

Total exports of goods grew by 4.7 per cent in 2018 to US dollars 11.9 billion while imports recorded a growth of 6.0 per cent to US dollars 22.2 billion. Consequently, the trade deficit widened moderately to US dollars 10.3 billion in 2018 from US dollars 9.6 billion in 2017.

Earnings from tourism remained healthy with a 4.8 per cent (year-on-year) growth in December 2018, resulting in a total income of US dollars 4.4 billion in 2018, a growth of 11.6 per cent from 2017.

Land Price Index (LPI) for Colombo District, compiled by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), reached 125.9 during the 2nd half of 2018, recording an increase of 18 per cent compared to the 2nd half of 2017. The three sub-indices of LPI, namely residential, commercial and industrial have contributed to this increase.

LPI is compiled covering all Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions of Colombo District using per perch bare land prices collected from the Government Valuation Department in order to monitor the developments in the real estate sector. To maintain homogeneity, three separate sub-indices for residential, commercial and industrial lands are computed, considering the diverse nature of the land use, and the overall LPI is calculated by taking the average of these three sub-indices.