Sri Lanka's economy shrinks 11.5% in first quarter as financial crisis continues

COLOMBO :Sri Lanka's economy shrank 11.5 per cent in the first three months of 2023, official data showed on Thursday, as the country remained in the grip of its worst financial crisis in decades.

The agriculture sector grew 0.8 per cent from a year earlier, while output from industries contracted 23.4 per cent and services dropped 5 per cent, the department said. “This is a slightly bigger contraction than our expectations of 9 per cent-10 per cent. But we project growth to turn back to positive in the second half of the year,” said Shehan Cooray, head of research at Acuity Stockbrokers.

"A pickup in private sector credit will be a growth positive and credit growth will increase over the next six to nine months," Cooray added.

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Sri Lanka's economy shrinks 11.5% in Q1COLOMBO :Sri Lanka's economy shrank 11.5 per cent in the first three months of 2023 from the previous year, government data showed on Thursday.The country is experiencing its worst financial crisis in decades.The state-run Census and Statistics Department said the agriculture sector showed growth of 0.
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