Economics
With an economy worth $80.591 billion (2015) ($278.415 billion (2017) PPP estimate),and a per capita GDP of about $11,068.996 (PPP), Sri Lanka has mostly had strong growth rates in recent years. The Sri Lankan economy has seen robust annual growth at 6.4 percent over the course of the 2003-2012 period, well above its regional peers. In GDP per capita terms, it is ahead of other countries in the South Asian region. Since the end of the three-decade civil war, Sri Lanka has begun focusing on long-term strategic and structural development challenges as it strives to transition to an upper middle income country.
The main economic sectors of the country are tourism, tea export, apparel, textile, rice production and other agricultural products. In addition to these economic sectors, overseas employment contributes highly in foreign exchange: 90% of expatriate Sri Lankans reside in the Middle East.
Sri Lanka has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving extreme poverty and is on track to meet most of the other MDGs, outperforming other South Asian countries. Sri Lanka experienced a major decline in poverty between 2002 and 2009 – from 23 percent to 9 percent of the population. Despite this pockets of poverty continue to exist. An estimated 9 percent of Sri Lankans who are no longer classified as poor live within 20 percent of the poverty line and are, thus, vulnerable to shocks which could cause them to fall back into poverty.
Sri Lanka has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, and creating jobs for the bottom 40% has become a challenge. Sri Lanka also faces a challenges in social inclusion, governance and sustainability.
According to government policies and economic reforms stated by Prime Minister and Minister of National Policy and economic affairs Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka plans to create a knowledge-based social market economy and an export-oriented economy as well as the Western Region Megapolis a Megapolis in the western province to promote economic growth. The creation of several business and technology development areas island-wide specialised in various sectors, as well as tourism zones are also being planned.
