October exports fall 6%, imports down 6.4%

8 January 2016 02:45 am

Sri Lanka’s October exports fell 6 percent to US $ 847.3 million amid lower global demand, the Central Bank data released yesterday showed.
Both industrial and agricultural exports showed slowdowns.
The imports also fell at a rate of 6.4 percent to US $ 1, 638.3 million, mainly due to lower oil imports. As a result, October trade balance narrowed 6.8 percent to US $ 791 million.

However, the trade deficit for the first 10 months of 2015 rose 2.5 percent to US $ 6, 936 million.
Earnings from worker remittances rose marginal 0.8 percent during October 2015 to US $ 605.1 million.
Worker remittances in the first 10 months rose 1.7 percent to US $ 5, 787.3 million.
A slowdown in worker remittances is expected in 2016.