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Leading News from Sri Lanka ::
Feb 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka's trade deficit contracted for 12 consecutive months in December 2009, the Central Bank said releasing its external sector performance report for the month.
The trade deficit declined by 10.4 percent to USD 330 million in December 2009 as export earnings, boosted by the high prices of tea and rubber in the global market, grew by 6.4 percent to USD 723 million.
During the period expenditure on imports grew only marginally by 0.5 percent to USD 1.054 billion.
According to the figures provided by the Central Bank, the cumulative trade deficit decreased by 52.5 percent to USD 2.7986 billion in 2009 from USD 5.8974 billion in 2008.
Releasing the data, the Central Bank said minor agricultural products such as pepper, sesame seeds, other oil seeds and cocoa are increasingly becoming an important source of export earnings for the country.
However, export earnings from industrial exports of petroleum products, rubber based products, machinery and equipment fell during the month of December while gem exports experienced a significant improvement.
Import expenses rose as petroleum prices in the global market hiked while expenses on rice and wheat imports for the holidays also contributed to the rise in expenditure.
Gross official reserves of the Bank amounted to USD 5.097 billion without the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) funds by end December 2009, enough to cover 6.2 months of imports.
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