Sri Lanka current account returns to deficit in Sep 2026

Daily Mirror and EconomyNext report that Sri Lanka’s external current account was in a US$128 million deficit in September 2026, reversing the US$133 million surplus recorded in August. The January–September deficit totalled US$420 million; Daily Mirror contrasts this with a surplus of US$1.85 billion during the same period a year earlier.

EconomyNext, citing central bank data, reports that merchandise exports rose 21% from a year earlier to US$1.377 billion in September, while import spending grew 2.9% to US$2.109 billion. Despite the stronger export growth, the cumulative trade deficit widened to US$7.9 billion in the first nine months, from US$5.2 billion a year earlier.

EconomyNext reports that fuel-import spending fell for a fifth consecutive month on a month-to-month basis, but total fuel imports for January–September rose 51.5% year on year to about US$4.5 billion. September motor-vehicle import spending fell 34.4% to US$188 million, while spending on vehicles for the first nine months reached US$1.87 billion.

EconomyNext says the services-account surplus declined 34.3% year on year to US$119 million in September, as travel and air-transport payments increased faster than services income. The cumulative services surplus fell 22.3% to US$2.2 billion. Tourist arrivals were down 0.3% year on year in September and 1.8% over January–September; estimated September tourism earnings rose 1.5% to US$186 million, while cumulative earnings fell 9.2% to US$2.2 billion.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.