COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka yesterday hailed data showing the economy grew far more than expected in the first quarter, as the country continued its recovery from a foreign exchange crisis.
The 5.3-per-cent expansion in January-March marked an increase from the previous three months and was a huge improvement on the 10.7-per-cent contraction in the same quarter last year. It also topped forecasts of four per cent in a survey by Bloomberg News.
Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said the government expected overall annual growth in 2024 to be about 2.2 per cent.
“It is remarkable that we were able to achieve positive growth two years after facing the worst economic crisis ever,” he said in a statement. Official figures showed a sharp recovery in the industrial sector, with an expansion of 11.8 per cent in the first quarter, compared with a 24.3-per-cent contraction in January-March 2023.
The construction sector also showed improvement, as inflation came off a peak of 70 per cent in September 2022 to 0.9 per cent in May.
