Deficit in trade account widens in the face of import surge

External Sector Performance – December 2021

The deficit in the trade account widened in December 2021 compared to a year earlier, mainly due to excessive surge in imports recording the highest ever monthly import expenditure, despite persistently high earnings from exports that exceeded US dollars 1.0 billion for the seventh consecutive month. During the year 2021, the trade deficit widened notably, driven by considerable increase in imports that outpaced the growth in exports. Tourist arrivals continued the growth momentum in December with a notable increase over the previous month. Meanwhile, workers’ remittances recorded a month-on-month growth in December 2021, mainly reflecting the response to incentive scheme introduced for remittances and the seasonal increase. The weighted average spot exchange rate in the interbank market continued to hover around Rs. 201 per US dollar during the month.

Trade Balance:

The deficit in the trade account widened to highest ever monthly value of US dollars 1,085 million in December 2021, compared to the deficit of US dollars 562 million recorded in December 2020. The cumulative deficit in the trade account in 2021 also widened to US dollars 8,136 million from US dollars 6,008 million recorded in 2020.

Terms of Trade:

Terms of trade, i.e., the ratio of the price of exports to the price of imports, improved by 4.6 per cent in December 2021, compared to December 2020, as the increase in export prices surpassed the increase in import prices. Meanwhile, the terms of trade for 2021 deteriorated by 7.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

Overall exports:

Earnings from merchandise exports in December 2021 grew by 19.9 per cent over December 2020 to reach US dollars 1,156 million. Increases in earnings were observed across all main categories, while industrial exports mainly contributed to the expansion. Meanwhile, cumulative export earnings in 2021 increased by 24.4 per cent to US dollars 12,502 million compared to US dollars 10,047 million recorded during 2020. This is the highest ever export earnings for a year recorded in history compared to previous highest export earnings of US dollars 11,940 million that was recorded in 2019.

Industrial exports:

Earnings from the export of industrial goods increased by 21.3 per cent in December 2021, compared to December 2020. This increase was due to a broad-based increase in earnings from most of the industrial products led by garments, petroleum products, food, beverages, and tobacco and rubber products. However, a decline in earnings was reported in the category of printing industry products (mainly currency notes). Export of garments to all major markets improved.

– CBSL