Trade deficit over 100% during 1st half 2010.

Sri Lanka’s trade deficit during the 1st half of 2010, has widened by 108.6% thus recording a deficit of US$ 2.8 billion compared to just US$ 1.36 billion during the 1st half of 2009.

Exports during the 1st half of this year have gone up by 13.7% while imports too have shown a massive increase of 42.1% during the said period.

Export earnings of US$ 3.62 billion has mainly come from “Textiles and Garments”   figuring a sum of US$ 1.49 billion, a drop compared to 2009 1st half earnings.

However in June, Textiles and Garments exports have seen a 24% increase to earn US$ 305 million compared to last year’s June figure.

During 1st half of this year, Industrial exports have contributed US$ 2.65 billion for the total export earnings, an increase of 9.63%.

Tea exports have brought in US$ 625.71 million, again an increase of 23.87%.

Meanwhile during the 1st 6 months, the import bill has increased rapidly to stand at a massive US$ 6.46 billion compared to US$ 4.55 billion spent during the corresponding period of 2009.

Petroleum bill was the biggest contributor to the high import bill during the 2010 1st half with  a sum of US$ 1.71 billion compared to just US$ 869.1 spent during the 1st Half of 2009.

The petroleum bill has seen a 97.32% increase during the period.

Spending on importation of Investment goods to the country during the January to June has increased by 13.22% to stand at US$ 1.31 billion.

Under this, importation of transport equipments has seen the biggest increase with building material and machinery equipments too showing a rise in imports.

During the first half of 2010, worker remittances have increased by 13.5% compared to last years 1st half to stand at US dollars 1,820 million.

The gross official reserves, with Asian Clearing Union funds, including domestically arranged swaps, has increased to US dollars 6,013 million during this period.

Advertisement