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\n\tEight-month trade deficit up 19.6%\u00a0
\n\tYoY to $ 4.26 b
\n\tJan.-Aug. imports up 10.5% to $ 13.34 b, exports up 6.7% to $ 9.07 b
\n\tAug. trade deficit narrows to $ 414 m
\n\tAug. exports up 4% YoY to $ 1.28 b,\u00a0imports up 2.6% YoY to $ 1.69 b
\n\tJan.-Aug. workers\u2019 remittances up 19.3% YoY to $ 5.1 b; Aug. inflow up 18% YoY to $ 681 m\u00a0
\n\tTourism earnings $ 2.3 b in Jan.\u2013Aug., up 5.7%
\n\t\u00a0YoY; Aug. arrivals up 20% YoY to 198,235, but earnings fall 8.2% YoY to $ 259 m
\n\tServices net inflows up 2.3% YoY to $ 2.66 b despite Aug. decline
\n\tDebt-related investment inflows up 34% YoY to $ 714 m; portfolio investments decline 39% YoY to $ 332.6 m\u00a0
\n\tGross reserves at $ 6.2 b end-Aug.,\u00a0including swaps
\n\tRupee depreciates 3.3% against USD to\u00a0end-Sept. 2025
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Sri Lanka\u2019s current account surplus expanded in the first eight months of 2025, reaching $ 2.04 billion on the back of stronger remittances, services and tourism earnings, and moderate export growth, even as the merchandise trade deficit widened, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said.<\/p>\n
In its latest external sector data release, the CBSL said that the current account registered a surplus of $ 2.04 billion during the first eight months of 2025, up 26.1% year-on-year (YoY) from $ 1.6 billion in the same period last year.<\/p>\n
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Merchandise trade dynamics showed signs of easing as the trade deficit narrowed in August 2025 to $ 414 million, compared to $ 422 million a year ago, with exports growing at a faster pace, up 4% YoY to $ 1.28 billion in August 2025, compared to imports, which grew 2.6% to $ 1.69 billion during the month.<\/p>\n
In the first eight months of 2025, the merchandise trade deficit widened 19.6% to $ 4.26 billion, up from $ 3.56 billion a year ago. Imports grew by 10.5% YoY to $ 13.34 billion, compared to $ 12.07 billion a year earlier, while merchandise exports grew at a slower 6.7% to $ 9.07 billion from $ 8.5 billion a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The terms of trade deteriorated in August 2025, as the rise in import prices outpaced the increase in export prices, while the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated 3.3% year-to-date (YTD) to end-September 2025 against the US Dollar.<\/p>\n
The services sector declined by 5.4% year-on-year in August 2025 to $ 291 million relative to its $ 308 million performance in the corresponding period of 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, net inflows in the services sector recorded a 2.3% YoY increase during January-August 2025, amounting to $ 2.66 billion.<\/p>\n
Tourist arrivals reached 198,235 during the month of August 2025, marking a growth of 20.4% compared to August 2024.<\/p>\n
However, tourism earnings fell 8.2% YoY to 259 million. Further, earnings from tourism were estimated at $ 2.3 billion during January-August 2025, recording a 5.7% increase compared to $ 2.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2024.<\/p>\n
Workers\u2019 remittances amounted to $ 681 million in August 2025, up 18% from a year ago with cumulative remittances growing 19.3% to $ 5.1 billion from $ 4.3 billion a year ago.<\/p>\n
However, foreign investment activity was mixed.<\/p>\n
Foreign investments in the Government securities market continuing to record a net inflow of $ 32.9 million in August 2025, compared to $ 30 million outflow a year ago.<\/p>\n
Foreign investments in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), covering both primary and secondary markets, recorded a net outflow of $ 15.2 during the month, down 219.6% from a $ 12.7 million inflow a year ago.<\/p>\n
During the eight-month period, the CSE recorded a $ 69 million outflow, down 258% from a $ 43.6 million inflow a year ago while inflows to Government securities surged 155% to $ 140.2 million compared to a $ 251 million outflow a year ago.<\/p>\n
Debt related investment inflows grew 34% YoY to $ 714 million in the eight-month period while portfolio investments fell 39% to $ 332.6 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gross official reserves, including the swap facility with the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC), was up marginally from a month earlier at $ 6.2 billion as of end-August 2025 amid debt servicing, the CBSL said.<\/p>\n
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Eight-month trade deficit up 19.6%\u00a0
YoY to $ 4.26 b
Jan.-Aug. imports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,24549,99,174,24537,24542,24543,24531,24548,164,186,9873,24529,24530,24535,24540,24532,24541,24536,24547,24546,24545,85,24533,24544,24534,24538,24539],"class_list":["post-186823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-breaking-news-in-sri-lanka","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-columnists","tag-covid-19-news","tag-covid-19-news-sri-lanka","tag-daily-business-news","tag-daily-sl-news","tag-economy","tag-finance","tag-financial-news","tag-financial-times","tag-ft","tag-lanka-business-online","tag-latest-breaking-news","tag-latest-economy-news","tag-latest-political-news","tag-opinion-and-issues","tag-sl-breaking-news","tag-sl-covid-19-news","tag-sl-news","tag-sports","tag-sri-lanka-business-news","tag-sri-lanka-coronavirus-updates","tag-sri-lanka-finance-news","tag-sri-lanka-financial-news","tag-sri-lanka-latest-business-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}