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Trade deficit further widens

  • 13 Sep 2021
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The deficit in Sri Lanka’s trade account recorded an expansion on a year-on-year basis in July 2021. Earnings from export of goods increased during the month over a year earlier, but expenditure on imports increased at a faster pace, causing the trade deficit to widen for the fifth consecutive month in July 2021, the Central Bank said.



Workers’ remittances declined in July, following the trend observed in June 2021, while earnings from tourism remained at minimal levels. Meanwhile, maintaining the country’s impeccable record of debt service payments, Sri Lanka successfully settled the matured 10-year International Sovereign Bond (ISB) of US dollars 1.0 billion in July 2021.



Foreign investment in the government securities market recorded a marginal net inflow, while the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) continued to record net outflows during the month. The average spot exchange rate in the interbank market remained broadly stable in July 2021.



The deficit in the trade account widened on a year-on-year basis to US dollars 607 million in July 2021 compared to the deficit of US dollars 209 million recorded in July 2020. The cumulative deficit in the trade account from January to July 2021 also widened to US dollars 4,922 million from US dollars 3,471 million in the corresponding period of 2020. The major contributory factors for this outcome are shown in Figure 1.



Terms of trade, i.e., the ratio of the price of exports to the price of imports, deteriorated by 11.6 per cent in July 2021 compared to July 2020, as the increase in import prices surpassed the increase in export prices.

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