2012 GDP growth put at 6.4%

Monday, 18 March 2013 00:17 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Department of Census and Statistics has put Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2012 at 6.4%, aided by a rebound in the final quarter.

The 2012 growth however was below 8.2% achieved in 2011 and 8% in 2010. The economy in fourth quarter grew by 6.3% over the same period the previous year, picking up from a three-year low of 4.8% in the third quarter.

For the full year, industrial, agriculture and services sectors which grew by 10.3%, 5.8% and 4.6% respectively. DNH Financial said 2012 growth reflected Sri Lanka bucking the downward trend in the global economy. “Even though the Sri Lankan economy did expand by 8.2% in 2011, we view this performance as highly encouraging and indicative of the country’s resilience in an environment of globally heightened risk. We believe that a solid fundamental base is now firmly developing which could provide the necessary ‘economic’ impetus needed for the bourse to re-rate to higher levels,” DNH added.

In the fourth quarter, the Agriculture sector (9% of total GDP) declined 0.1% (vs. a growth of 2.4% in 4Q2011), largely due to the 40% decline in paddy segment, amidst the sector being affected by floods). The Industry sector (32% of total GDP) rose 13.4% in 4Q2012 (vs. 10.0% in 4Q2011) driven by the 34% growth in the construction segment (9.0% of total GDP).

Meanwhile, the Services sector (59% of total GDP) growth slowed to 3.7% in 4Q2012 (from 8.5% in 4Q2011) mainly due to the import trade segment (8.8% of total GDP) declining 2.0% (vs. a strong growth of 13.6% in 4Q2011).