Making Growth

The lagging effects of the agriculture sector took a chunk of growth off Sri Lanka’s industrial sector which contributed 36 percent to the country’s GDP growth.









The lagging effects of the agriculture sector took a chunk of growth off Sri Lanka’s industrial sector which contributed 36 percent to the country’s GDP growth. The Central Bank in its quarterly GDP growth announcement said the positive impact of the performance of large and medium scale industries was partly offset by the poor performance of the processing of plantation crops and small industry.

The bank said “Value added in the processing of plantation crops contracted due to the decline in rubber and coconut production, while small industries recorded a setback due to the decline in paddy milling that was affected by the substantial decline in the paddy harvest during the period.

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The manufacturing sector, the largest of the four sub-sectors of industry meanwhile, accounted for 26 percent of GDP growth, and grew by 6.7 percent as against an increase of 4.

1 percent in 2003.

The 8.8 percent growth in the factory industry sub sector, which included the apparel industry, was mainly responsib