Sri Lanka’s exports during the month of June rose 32 percent to US $.620 million while the expenditure on imports also increased 50 percent to US $1.6 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of US $850 million over the same period of the previous year.

The data released by the Central Bank also showed that despite a 35 percent growth in export income, Sri Lanka’s trade deficit has expanded to US $ 4250 million for the first half of the year 2011.
For the first six months of 2011, the cumulative expenditure on imports rose 46.5 percent to US $ 9.3 billion over the first half of 2010.