Sri Lanka imports fall in May as credit slows with rate hike

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s imports fell to 9.7 percent from a year earlier to 1,451 million US dollars in May 2022 data showed as a rate hike slowed credit and people were impoverished by a currency collapse.

Exports were up 17.5 percent to 892 million US dollars. The May trade deficit fell to 404 million Us dollars from 716 million US dollars.

In the six months to June exports were up 12.2 percent to 5,266 million US dollars, and imports were up 5.3 percent to 8.8 billion US dollars.

Sri Lanka’s private credit fell to only 17.2 billion rupees in May though credit number in rupee terms soared in the previous two months partly due to dollar loans values going up amid steep currency collapse.

Investment goods fell 22.7 percent to 238 million US dollars.

Consumer goods imports were down 30 percent to 177.1 million US dollars.

Non-food consumer goods were down 47.4 percent to 49.8 million US dollars.

Intermediate goods were unchanged at 1,036 million dollars, with fuel imports up 39 percent to 461 million US dollars, while base metals were down 79 percent to 20.8 million US dollars and chemical products were down 24 percent to 75 million US dollars. (Colombo/July11/2022)