Growth slumps to 2.9% in 3rd quarter

Colombo (News1st): The country’s economic growth in the third quarter slumped to a historic low of 2.9% in the third quarter in comparison to 3.2% a year earlier reaffirming the continuous struggle. The growth rate in the 3rd quarter was lower in comparison to 3.7% achieved in the 2nd quarter. The Gross Domestic Product at constant prices for the third quarter of 2018 was recorded as Rs. 2,431,627 million and GDP reported for the third quarter of 2017 was Rs. 2,362,698 million. Agricultural activities expanded favourably by 3.3% compared to the contraction of 3.0% reported in the third quarter of 2017. Industrial activities recorded a positive growth rate of 1.9%, sharply down from 5.3% a year earlier and service activities expanded further by 3.9% up from 2.8% a year ago. Speaking to News1st COO of the Advocata Institute, Dhananath Fernando stated that this drop will continue to have a bad impact on the economy, which means that it will take a longer time for Sri Lanka to upscale its economy. He noted that our average growth rate after independence was about 4%, this year it was even below the average of this rate and if Sri Lanka is to become a rich country within one generation it should at least maintain an average growth rate of 8%. On the other hand, he said the agriculture had picked up, because of the favourable weather conditions, but it is saddening to see that the industry side is struggling as it is the future of the country. "This signal is not very good for the economy, which means it will affect the wallets of the people in a very negative way," said Dhananath Fernando.