Lankan trade deficit narrows in February

COLOMBO, May 5 (Xinhua): Sri Lanka's trade deficit narrowed by 20.7 per cent in February to US$504 million on increased earnings from exports, the Central Bank said in its latest report on Monday.

Earnings from exports in February 2014 increased significantly on a year-on-year basis by 5.4 per cent to $841 million, while expenditure on imports declined by 6.2 per cent to $1.345 billion.

"Cumulative trade deficit for the first 2 months of 2014 contracted by 12.5 per cent, as the growth in export earnings of 13.9 per cent outpaced the 1.1 per cent increase in import expenditure, " the report said.

Improved performance in agricultural exports, followed by industrial exports, led the significant growth in exports.