SRI LANKA, April 21 -- In January, the trade deficit continued its improving trend in recent months. The trade deficit was recorded at US $ 617 million during the month, compared to a deficit of US$ 701 million in December, and US $ 1,049 million in January last year.
The significant reduction in the trade deficit was due to the combined effect of higher earnings from exports and a notable deceleration in import expenditure.
Exports grew 7.5 per cent while imports declined significantly by 17.8 per cent in January 2019 (year-on-year).
Tourist arrivals grew 2.2 per cent (year-on-year) in January 2019, resulting in earnings from tourism of US dollars 458 million during the month. Workers' remittances in January 2019 amounted to US dollars ...