GDP grows 18.4% to Rs. 2,484 b in 2006

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in 2006 grew by 18.4 per cent, in nominal terms, reaching Rs. 2,484 billion with per capita income amounting to Rs. 126,306.

The distribution of the GDP among provinces shows that contribution to GDP at provincial level was largely concentrated in the Western Province with a slight decline from the year before.

During the year, the Western Province recorded a growth of 16.8 per cent in current terms, contributing 50.1 per cent to the total GDP compared to 50.8 per cent in 2005. The dominance of Western Province in economic activity is a consequence of having major infrastructure centres such as ports and airports, financial houses, major import and export organisations and other service providing establishments including telecommunication.

Taking into account the size of provincial population, per capita value added in Western Province was 1.8 times the national average. In contrast, all the other provinces had per capita value added below the country average, ranging between 0.8 in the North Western Province and 0.5 in the Northern Province.

The four neighbouring provinces to the Western Province viz. North Western, Southern, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces jointly grew by 21.7 per cent, more than the growth in the Western Province, while maintaining a share in the national GDP at around 34 per cent.