Cementing its track record as the richest region in the country, the Western Province contributed the highest share of 39.1% to Sri Lanka’s nominal GDP in 2019 but was down 0.5% from the previous year, while the Central and North Western Provinces followed at a distant second and third place, latest data from the Central Bank showed.
Due to improved contribution from the other provinces, the share of GDP held by the Western Province declined by 0.5% from 2018.
The Central (11.5%) and North Western (10.7%) Provinces were ranked at second and third positions, respectively. PGDP shares increased in Northern, Eastern, North Western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces while in Western, Central, Southern, North Central and Uva Provinces, share decreases could be observed year-on-year.
All the provinces have contributed fairly in terms of the Agricultural activities ranging from 8.4% to 15.9% whereas Southern, North Western and Central Provinces were the top contributors to the Agricultural activities of the country.
The Western Province has dominated Industry activities with a contribution of 45.8% while Central and North Western Provinces became second and third highest contributors.
In terms of Services activities, Western Province recorded the highest contribution of 39.6% while Central and Southern Provinces had the second and third highest contributions.
Northern and North Western Provinces have increased their shares across the three activities. On the contrary, Central and North Central Provinces shares in all the activities have declined from the previous year while other provinces have shown a mixed performance.
All the provinces, except the Northern Province, have dominant Services activities with over 50% contribution. Industry activities in all provinces are positioned next to Services activities, ranging from 16.7% to 32.1%, while Agricultural activities range from 1.9% 15.1% across the provinces.
Nominal GDP, as calculated by the Central Bank for each province, showed that in 2019 even though the Western Province expanded from Rs. 5,681 billion to Rs. 5,865 billion as a share of overall GDP it declined to 39.1% from 39.6%. The Central Province grew from Rs. 1,680 billion or 11.7% in 2018 to Rs. 1,719 billion or 11.5%. North Western expanded from Rs. 1,514 billion or 10.5% to Rs. 1,608 billion or 10.7% to round off the top three.
Sabaragamuwa Province and Eastern Province also recorded marginal increases of 7.6% and 5.7% respectively. However, North Central and Southern Provinces saw declines in their GDP contribution share, with the former dropping from Rs. 809 billion (5.6%) to Rs. 810 billion (5.4%) and the latter slowing from Rs. 1,444 billion (10.1) to Rs. 1,489 billion (9.9%). In fact the Eastern Province performed better than the North Central Province, inching up to sixth place, above the North Central, Uva and Northern Provinces with Rs. 861 billion or 5.7% contribution to GDP.
The Uva and Northern Provinces remained at the bottom of the table with the former contributing only 5.4% of GDP and the latter 4.7% of GDP. Both provinces also showed a higher dependency on Agriculture, rather than Industries and Services, with Uva having a 10.5% share of Agriculture but only 5% of Industries and 4.9% in Services while the Northern Province had 9.6% Agriculture, 5% in Industries and only 4% contribution from Services.
The Western Province had only 9.7% share in Agriculture but drew most of its contribution from Industry 45.8% and 39.6% from Services.
(FT)