ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s monthly export in October fell for the first time in seven months as global demand for industrial products led by garments have declines in the face of looming global recession, the island nation’s central bank said.
The earnings from merchandise exports declined by 11.9 percent in October to $1,051 million compared to a year ago. The last time Sri Lanka saw a decline in the year-on-year export was in March this year.
“A decline in earnings was observed in industrial and agricultural exports, driven by lower demand mainly for garment exports due to increased global inflation conditions, while a marginal increase was recorded in mineral exports,” the central bank said in a statement.
The cumulative export earnings in the first 10 months of 2022, however, increased by 8.9 percent over the same period in the last year to $11 billion, which was mainly driven by
the improvements in industrial exports.
A looming recession in Sri Lanka’s main export markets has threatened the island nation’s top export garment sector as orders have slowed down significantly from January next year, government and industry officials said. For the full story, click here. (Colombo/Dec06/2022)