source: tradingeconomics.com
The economy of Sri Lanka shrank 1.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, following a 2 percent growth in the previous period. That was the first economic contraction since available records began in the third quarter of 2003, as the Covid-19 crisis and associated containment measures weighed on economic activity, in particular hitting industrial activity (-7.8 percent vs 1.4 percent in Q4) and agriculture (-5.6 percent vs -4.1 percent). Meanwhile, services expanded modestly (3.1 percent vs 2.7 percent), boosted by wholesale and retail trade (4.1 percent vs 4 percent); IT programming consultancy and related (9.6 percent vs 8.2 percent) and financial activities (9 percent vs 0.1 percent). In contrast, a sharp decline was recorded in the tourism sector as reflected in accommodation, food & beverage services (-6.2 percent vs -5.4 percent), following the cancellation of all passenger flights from late March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. source: Department of Census and Statistics - Sri Lanka