COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s earnings from exports declined by 6.0 per cent in the month of October to US dollars 847.3 million, year-on-year, reflecting lower earnings from exports of all major categories mainly due to weak global demand. On a cumulative basis, earnings from exports declined by 3.9 per cent to US dollars 8,843 million during the first ten months of 2015, reflecting a significant decline in earnings from tea, rubber products and sea food exports.
On the other hand, expenditure on imports decreased by 6.4 per cent, year-on-year, to US dollars 1,638.3 million in October 2015. The largest contribution for this reduction had come from fuel imports, followed by rice and textile and textile articles. Despite the increase in import volumes of both crude oil and refined petroleum, the fuel import bill declined by 30.5 per cent in October 2015 reflecting the substantial decrease in oil prices.
During the first ten months of 2015, expenditure on imports decreased by 1.2 per cent to US dollars 15,780 million, mainly led by a 15.8 per cent drop in expenditure on intermediate goods imports.
