Economy of Sri Lanka

Economy of Sri Lanka
	Colombo, the financial centre of Sri Lanka
Currency	Sri Lankan rupee (LKR, Rs)
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organisations	WTO, WCO, SAFTA, IOR-ARC, BIMSTEC, AIIB
Country group	Developing/Emerging; Lower-middle income economy;
Statistics
Population	21,781,800 (60th); (2024 Census)
GDP	$98.98 billion (nominal, 2024); $342.6 billion (PPP, 2024);
GDP rank	71st (nominal, 2024); 62nd (PPP, 2024);
GDP growth	-2.3% (FY2023); 5.0% (FY2024); 5.4% (Q3 2025);
GDP per capita	$4,516 (nominal, 2024); $15,632 (PPP, 2024);
GDP per capita rank	120th (nominal, 2024); 111th (PPP, 2024);
GDP by sector	Agriculture: 7.5%; Industry: 26.7%; Services: 59.2%; (2024)
Inflation (CPI)	2.10% (October 2025)
Population below poverty line	12% lived on less than $4.20/day (2019); ; 53% lived on less than $8.30/day (2019)
Human Development Index	0.776 high (2023) 89th; 0.630 medium (IHDI);
Corruption Perceptions Index	35 out of 100 points (2025, 107th rank)
Labour force	8.316 million (2024 est); 47.4% participation rate (2024 est);
Labour force by occupation	agriculture: 26.4%; industry: 25.4%; services: 48.3%; (2024-3Q);
Unemployment	4.7% (2022); 4.7% (2023); 4.4% (2024 est);
Main industries	textiles & clothing, tourism, telecommunications, information technology services, banking, shipping, petroleum refining, construction and processing of tea, rubber, coconuts, tobacco and other agricultural commodities
External
Exports	$16.172 billion (2024); merchandise exports US$ 12.705 billion (2024); service exports US$ 3.467 billion (2024);
Export goods	textiles and apparel, tea and spices, IT services, rubber manufactures, Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Fish, Seafood and Aquatic Products, Gems and Jewellery, Processed food and fruits
Main export partners	USA 25.29%; UK 9.18%; India 6.09%; Germany 5.75%; Italy 5.35%; (2020);
Imports	$18.9 billion (2024)
Import goods	Mineral fuels including petroleum product (12.3%); Machinery including computers (9%); Electrical machinery, equipment ; Vehicles (7.1%); Textile fabric (5%); Plastics (3.7%); Cotton (3.3%); Heavy metals (3%); Ships and boats (2.8%); Iron, steel, aluminium (2.8%)
Main import partners	China 22.96%; India 19.30%; UAE 5.57%; Malaysia 4.08%; Singapore 3.96%; (2020);
FDI stock	US$13.05 Billion (2019); Abroad: NA;
Current account	$1.746 billion (2024); +1.8% of GDP;
Gross external debt	$37.1 billion (Q2 2025)
Public finances
Foreign reserves	US$6.8 billion (December 2025);
Budget balance	− 5.1% (of GDP) (2026 est)
Revenues	Rs 5,305 billion (2026 est)
Expenses	Rs 8,980 billion (2026 est)
Credit rating	Standard & Poor's; CCC+/C; Outlook: Stable; Moody's:; Caa1; Outlook: Stable; Fitch:; CCC+ (Domestic/Foreign); B- (Country ceiling); Outlook: None at this level;
	All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The mixed economy of Sri Lanka was valued at LKR 29.89 trillion (around $99 billion) in 2024 by gross domestic product (GDP) and $342.6 billion by purchasing power parity (PPP) Sri Lanka's economy expanded by 5.0% in 2024, marking a strong recovery from the 2022 economic crisis.

Sri Lanka has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving extreme poverty and is on track to meet most of the other MDGs, outperforming other South Asian countries. Sri Lanka's poverty headcount index was 4.1% by 2016. Since the end of the three-decade-long Sri Lankan Civil War, Sri Lanka has begun focusing on long-term strategic and structural development challenges and has financed several infrastructure projects.

Following a sovereign debt default in 2022 amid unsustainable external obligations and severe macroeconomic imbalances, Sri Lanka’s economy experienced one of the deepest contractions in its history, with real GDP shrinking sharply and poverty rising significantly. Reforms under a multi-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program initiated in March 2023 have helped stabilize key macroeconomic indicators — inflation has eased from crisis-era highs into low single digits, foreign exchange reserves have rebuilt to levels supporting multiple months of imports, and fiscal balances have improved with a return to primary surpluses. The economy rebounded with approximately 5 % growth in 2024 and continued expansion into 2025, though growth is expected to moderate in 2026.