COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka’s trade deficit widened for the fifth consecutive month in July 2021 although earnings from export of goods increased during the month over a year earlier. The cumulative deficit in the trading account from January to July 2021 widened to 4,922 million US dollars from 3,471 million US dollars in the corresponding period of 2020. Total earnings from the export of agricultural goods in July 2021 increased by 2.3 percent compared to July 2020. Shedding light on imports, the report says expenditure on merchandise imports increased by 32.2 percent to 1,710 million US dollars compared to 1,294 million US dollars recorded in July 2020. On a cumulative basis, total import expenditure from January to July 2021 amounted to 11,725million US dollars, compared to 8,968 million US dollars recorded in the corresponding period in 2020.

Source: The Nation September 13, 2021 17:15 UTC