The Indian Ocean Island’s economy has quickened at a rapid pace since Sri Lanka's military crushed a nearly four-decade-long revolt by Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in May 2009 that killed tens of thousands of people, according to UN estimates.
Gross domestic product during the three months to March 2011, was 8.0 percent, the Department of Census and Statistics said.
The main industrial sector, which includes textiles and garments, construction and manufacturing, grew 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2012, slower than 11.1 percent posted in the same quarter a year earlier.
The services sector, which includes tourism, telecommunications, ports and transport, expanded by 5.8 percent in 2012, over 9.5 percent a year earlier.
The agriculture sector grew by 11.5 percent in the quarter, from a contraction of 4.3 percent in the previous quarter of 2011.
Last Friday, the International Monetary Fund said the island’s economy may slow to 6.75 percent this year, slower than 7.2 percent forecasted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The Washington-based fund, however, said economic growth was still a tad higher in the context of global conditions.
John Nelmes, head of a mission to Sri Lanka said economic growth was weak due to tighter domestic conditions and weak external demand.
Nelmes and his team were visiting the island ahead of releasing the final instalment of 400 million dollars of the 2.6 billion dollar bailout package.
He said Colombo wanted more assistance as it emerges from a decades-long civil war, but declined to say how much was being sought.
"We have initiated a discussion of a programme to help Sri Lanka get deeper into a middle-income level country," Nelmes told reporters.
Sri Lanka secured the 2.6 billion dollar bailout in 2009, two months after the military ended the war and the island's foreign reserves had dropped to a dangerously low level of around a billion dollars.
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