Sri Lanka records remarkable GDP growth

Sri Lanka's post-war economy recorded remarkable growth last year according to latest data released by the Census and Statistics Department here on Monday. At constant prices, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was worth 2.86 trillion rupees (23.83 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011, 8.3 percent increase from 2010, showed the data. The figure of 8.3 percent GDP growth revealed by the Census and Statistics Department over the weekend was above the previous forecast of 8 percent, the rate at which the Sri Lankan economy grew in 2010 as well. In its 2011 Annual Report which is to be released shortly, the Central Bank is expected to confirm the data. The release of the latest data by the Department confirms two successive years of 8 percent growth for Sri Lanka, an achievement largely credited to the end of the war in May 2009. Meanwhile the industry sector posted its highest growth in several decades of 10.3 percent as against 8.4 percent in 2010. In addition, it increased its share of the GDP to 29.3 percent, also a record. The services sector, which dominates the economy with a share of 59.5 percent, grew by 8.6 percent, up from 8 percent in 2010.