21 December 2024 03:09 am Views - 568
The Western province continued to lead the provincial gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, albeit slipping from the 2022 levels while the North Western and Central provinces following as the distant second and third in the provincial distribution of Sri Lanka’s total economic output.
Despite the data being very much lagging, the Western province accounted for 43.7 percent of total GDP for 2023, measured on the current market prices.
The North Western and Central provinces accounted for 10.9 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively, compared to 11.1 percent and 10.0 percent in 2022.
The data released this week showed that Sri Lanka’s economy had continued to grow at an accelerated pace of 5.5 percent in the third quarter, from 4.7 percent growth seen in the second quarter, with all three major economic sectors – agriculture, industrial and services – recording growths of 3.0 percent, 10.8 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
Sri Lankan economy contracted by 2.3 percent in 2023, at a much lower pace than the 7.3 percent contraction in 2022, as the country was coming out from an economic crisis caused by the shortage in foreign currency, which left the country with fuel, medicine, food and many other essentials in short supply.
The provincial GDP data, which was released only yesterday, showed that the Western province led the highest contribution to the services activities, with 45.9 percent in 2023, reflecting its dominant role in providing services for the rest of the activities in the economy such as finance and logistics for other activities such as industrial and agriculture.
The Central province followed, with a 10.4 percent contribution to the services sector while the Southern province had a 9.9 percent share.
The Western province also led the industrial sector activities, with a contribution of 48.7 percent, due its availability of better infrastructure and it being close to the ports.
The North Western and Central provinces followed as the distant second and third contributors to the industrial activities, with shares of 12.3 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the North Western province led the agriculture activities, with a 19.6 percent share in 2023, followed by the Southern and Central provinces, with 13.5 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively.