Sri Lanka trade gap up in November

Jan 16, 2007 (LBO) -- Sri Lanka's trade gap widened 66 percent in November 2007 to 418 million dollars as exports dipped, but the deficit for the first 11 months was flat, the Central Bank said. Exports in November fell 5.1 percent with industrial exports dipping 13.8 percent.

"This decline in export earnings could be attributed to a contraction in earnings from key industrial exports including garments and textiles, rubber products, and diamonds and jewellery," the Central Bank said.

Earnings from textiles and garments dropped 12.9 percent to 243.2 million dollars.

Imports rose 15.4 percent in November with intermediate goods rising 19.9 percent and the petroleum bill climbing 46 percent to 213.8 million dollars. Petroleum imports were up 13 percent for the 11 months.

But investment goods rose faster at 17.1 percent totalling 2,413.7 million dollars.

Cumulative exports for the period were up 11.

3 percent to 6.8 billion dollars and imports were up 8.



0 percent at 10,141 billion dollars.

The trade gap for the 11 months to November at 3.

2 billion US dollars was only up 1.

8 percent.

Remittances up to November were 2.

2 billion dollars, an increase of 15.1 percent