'Economist Intelligence Unit' predicts Sri Lanka's growth rate

COLOMBO (News 1st): The Economist Intelligence Unit 'The International Economic Forecaster' predicts a growth rate of below 5% for Sri Lanka over the next five years, though it expects a pickup in 2019 in comparison to 2018. In its latest Country Report, the intelligence unit says that Sri Lanka's unstable political environment will result in negative investor sentiments towards Sri Lanka in 2019. According to the report, subdued investment - along with a continued decline in government consumption, will preclude a strong economic recovery from devastating floods in 2017. The EIU has also forecast Sri Lanka's real GDP to grow by 4.1% in 2019, compared with an estimated 3.8% in 2018. It also forecasts that real GDP growth will average 4.7% per-year between 2019 and 2023. EIU also expects investment to expand by 3.5% in 2019, while the export sector is expected to grow during the second half of the forecast period, supported by increased demand from the major markets such as the USA and the European Union. The Forecast for service exports is a growth of around 5.7% in 2019, compared with an estimated growth of 9.2% in 2018. The EIU also predicts that in 2020, an economic slowdown in the US will adversely affect Sri Lanka’s export growth.