Economic growth affected but still impressive

Monday, 10 December 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Noting that economic growth has been affected due to global and internal shocks, NDB Stockbrokers said the rate has nevertheless been impressive.

Emphasising times are challenging for Sri Lanka, NDBS said the precarious global economic conditions are a concern.

“However, it should be noted that Sri Lanka recorded robust growth in 2010 and 2011 despite slow global economic growth, which indicates the significantly ‘decoupled’ nature of the Sri Lankan economy with the rest of the world. Therefore, we are cautiously optimistic that Sri Lanka could successfully overcome the issues stemming from global weakening over the next two years,” the broking firm said.

NDBS is maintaining its previous GDP growth expectation of 6.5% for 2012 despite the 6.8% projected by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The policies introduced in 2012 to stabilise the economy, weak global economy, and domestic drought conditions are likely to curb growth. “We also maintain our growth expectation of 7% for 2013,” it said.

“Despite the reduction from the high growth of over 8% recorded in 2010 and 2011, it is still very impressive considering the slowdown in global economies (including the emerging economies). Also the prudent measures introduced to stabilise the economy would augur well for the economic performance over the next few years,” NDBS added.