Sri Lanka’s economic growth for the first quarter of 2020 has dwindled drastically to minus 1.5 percent compared to 3.7 percent during 2019’s first quarter, official data show.
The economy contracted during the first quarter this year with the exception of the service sector which expanded by 3.1 percent, the department of census and statistics said.
It added that the gross domestic product for 2020’s first quarter at constant price had declined to Rs 2.29 trillion from Rs 2.33 trillion recorded during the first quarter last year.
However the gross domestic product for the first quarter of 2020 at current price increased marginally to Rs 3.84 trillion from Rs 3.77 trillion recorded during the same period last year.
The delay in releasing the 1st quarter GDP estimates was due to the challenges in gathering data and information owing to the COVID-19 impact, according to the department.
The department predicted that the COVID-19 impact will be felt much more in the second quarter of 2020, however, the global impacts of the pandemic were felt since last quarter of 2019.
