Sri Lanka’s economic growth saw a sharp decline in 2009 while the Northern and Eastern provinces recorded improvement in provincial growth.

According to latest data released by the statistics department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the national growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) was 9.4 percent last year compared to the 23.2 percent in 2008. The war-affected Northern and Eastern provinces recorded the highest provincial growth with 14.1 percent and 14.0 percent respectively.

Director of the statistics department of the Central Bank D. Wasantha, speaking to Sri Lanka News Network, said the fishing and transport sectors contributed most to the growth in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Despite their provincial growth, the growth of the war-torn region was still far lower than that of 2008 (33.5 and 32.9 percent). The two provinces, along with the North Central and Uva provinces, also contributed the least to the national economic growth.

The Western and Northwestern provinces made the highest contributions to Sri Lanka’s economic growth in 2009. As the hub of the country’s commercial activity, the Western province continued to dominate as the main contributor to the national GDP, making up 45.1 percent. However, in terms of actual provincial growth during 2009, the Western province reported marginal growth of 8.7 percent.

The Northwestern province improved its performance from 2008 and reported the second highest contribution of 10.3 percent to the country’s GDP. In 2008, the Southern province recorded the second highest GDP contribution of 10.5 percent. In 2009, it dropped to third place with 10.2 percent.

The service sector was the key player in the Western province, contributing more than 65 percent to its growth while the industrial sector contributed 32.0 percent and the agricultural sector 2.8 percent. The same trend prevailed in the overall economic growth of the country during 2009 with the service sector adding most to national growth.

The per capita income of the Western province was $3,259, which is greater than the national average of the past two years. The per capita income of all other provinces continued to fall, recording averages below the national per capita income.

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