Sri Lanka’s economy to rebound in the second quarter 2020, CB says

Sri Lanka’s economy will contract as much as 1.5 per cent of GDP this year with the decline in GDP in the second quarter in 2020.

Most of Lanka’s economic activities have been brought to a standstill from March as the COVID-19 crisis first hit tourism, exports through supply chain disruptions and curfews brought all domestic economic activities to a standstill.

Sri Lanka’s economic growth was expected to decline by around 3.5 per cent to 4 per cent in 2020 but it is expected to contract in the second quarter of 2020 but see a sharp rebound in the second half of the year, Chandranath Amarasekara, Director of Economic Research at the Central Bank told a media conference in Colombo on Thursday.

Domestic consumption except for basic food and medicine has been halted under Sri Lanka’s lockdown.

He said there was a lot of uncertainty about the global as well domestic economic condition in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sri Lanka’s first quarter GDP is expected to be released in the next week or so, after a delay, Mr. Amarasekara revealed.

“We may revise the forecast after we observe the first quarter data,” he said. (Bandula)