Sri Lanka, Feb. 1 -- Sri Lanka's merchandise trade deficit widened in December 2023 when compared with the corresponding month in 2022, due to the combined impact of low export earnings and high import expenditure.

The data released by the Central Bank showed that the deficit in the merchandise trade expanded to US $ 487 million in December 2023, from US $ 358 million in December 2022.

In November 2023, the deficit in the merchandise trade account narrowed to US $ 390 million, from US $ 683 million in October.

The earnings from merchandise exports declined by 6.2 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US $ 1,002 million in December 2023, compared to US $ 1,068 million in December 2022.

A decline in earnings was observed in industrial exports a...