Sri Lanka Economy - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Economic overview

lower middle-income South Asian island economy; extremely high public debts; rapid inflation; facing domestic food, fuel, and medicine shortages; tourism industry disrupted by COVID-19; known garment and commodities exporter; low foreign exchange reserves

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$296.595 billion (2021 est.)

$287.046 billion (2020 est.)

$297.372 billion (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real GDP growth rate

3.33% (2021 est.)

-3.47% (2020 est.)

-0.22% (2019 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$13,400 (2021 est.)

$13,100 (2020 est.)

$13,600 (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$84.016 billion (2019 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

7.01% (2021 est.)

6.15% (2020 est.)

3.53% (2019 est.)

Credit ratings

Fitch rating: CCC (2020)

Moody's rating: Caa1 (2020)

Standard & Poors rating: CCC+ (2020)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 7.8% (2017 est.)

industry: 30.5% (2017 est.)

services: 61.7% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 62% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 8.5% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 26.3% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 10.2% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 21.9% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -29.1% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

rice, coconuts, sugar cane, plantains, milk, tea, cassava, maize, poultry, coir

Industries

processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, tobacco and other agricultural commodities; telecommunications, insurance, banking; tourism, shipping; clothing, textiles; cement, petroleum refining, information technology services, construction

Industrial production growth rate

5.62% (2021 est.)

Labor force

8.268 million (2021 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 27%

industry: 26%

services: 47% (31 December 2016)

Unemployment rate

5.39% (2021 est.)

5.88% (2020 est.)

4.35% (2019 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 26.1%

male: 21.1%

female: 35.6% (2021 est.)

Population below poverty line

4.1% (2016 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

39.3 (2016 est.)

Average household expenditures

on food: 28% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco: 2% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 3%

highest 10%: 32.2% (2012 est.)

Budget

revenues: $10.623 billion (2019 est.)

expenditures: $17.496 billion (2019 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-5.5% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

79.1% of GDP (2017 est.)

79.6% of GDP (2016 est.)

note: covers central government debt and excludes debt instruments directly owned by government entities other than the treasury (e.g. commercial bank borrowings of a government corporation); the data includes treasury debt held by foreign entities as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement; sub-national entities are usually not permitted to sell debt instruments

Taxes and other revenues

7.68% (of GDP) (2020 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

-$1.083 billion (2020 est.)

-$1.843 billion (2019 est.)

-$2.799 billion (2018 est.)

Exports

$13.083 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$19.414 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$20.264 billion (2018 est.)

Exports - partners

United States 24%, India 8%, United Kingdom 7%, Germany 7% (2019)

Exports - commodities

clothing and apparel, tea, used tires, rubber products, precious stones, cinnamon (2019)

Imports

$18.271 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$24.562 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$26.841 billion (2018 est.)

Imports - partners

India 24%, China 23%, Singapore 7%, United Arab Emirates 6%, Malaysia 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

refined petroleum, textiles, gold, cars, broadcasting equipment (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$3.137 billion (31 December 2021 est.)

$5.664 billion (31 December 2020 est.)

$7.648 billion (31 December 2019 est.)

Debt - external

$55.332 billion (2019 est.)

$52.567 billion (2018 est.)

Exchange rates

Sri Lankan rupees (LKR) per US dollar -

198.764 (2021 est.)

185.593 (2020 est.)

178.745 (2019 est.)

162.465 (2018 est.)

152.446 (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Sri Lanka on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sri Lanka 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sri Lanka 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.