Sri Lanka's economy grew at a positive rate of 5.5 percent during the first quarter of this year, the Census and Statistics Department said on Wednesday releasing the GDP Summary Indicators for the 1st Quarter 2016.
According to a Department statement, the total economic output of Sri Lanka as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first three months of 2016 reportedly reached up to Rs.2.088 trillion.
GDP reported for the first quarter of 2015 was Rs.1.978 trillion, resulting a positive growth rate of 5.5 percent for the first quarter 2016.
The four major components of the economy, Agriculture, Industries, Services and Taxes less subsidies contributed to the GDP 7.4 percent, 31.6 percent, 52.4 percent and 8.5 percent respectively in the first quarter of 2016.
During the first quarter of 2016, especially the Industrial and Services activities have recorded a remarkable increase in their overall growth rates of 8.3 percent and 4.9 percent respectively, when compared to the 1st quarter of 2015. But overall growth rate of the Agricultural activities have shown only a slight increase of 1.9 percent.
The World Bank projects Sri Lanka's economic growth, driven by increased public investment and postponed FDI in 2015, to increase to 5.3 percent in 2016 from the 4.8 recorded for 2015.