WP increase share of GDP contribution in 2018

• Western Province share increases from 37.9% to 38.5% 
• Other provinces continue to lag behind
• Central Province declines from 12.1% to 11.8%
• Northern and North Central Provinces worst performing, GDP contribution unchanged 
• Services see expanding role with more than 50% contribution  

The share of GDP contributed by the Western Province has increased from 37.9% to 38.5% in 2018, with the Central Province recording a corresponding decline from 12.1% to 11.8%, as regional growth continued to lag behind. 

The Western Province continued to account for the largest share as per the Provincial Gross Domestic Product (PGDP) estimated by the Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) for 2018.  Central and North Western provinces were the second and the third highest contributors, respectively, a statement released by the Central Bank showed yesterday. 

The highest increase in PGDP share on year-on-year basis was reported in the Western Province. The only other province that reported an increase was the North Central Province. The shares of Central, Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces decreased in 2018, while the shares of North Western, Southern, Eastern and Northern Provinces remained unchanged. The North and North Central Provinces were also the worst performers, and rounded off the bottom two provinces in the table. 

Services activities played a dominant role in all provinces, with a contribution of more than 50% to the PGDP. Transportation; wholesale and retail trade; and other personal services activities were the key drivers of provincial services activities, which were in line with the trends observed in national GDP.

The contribution from industry activities to PGDP varied from 16.2% in North Central province to 32.8% in Western Province. Construction, manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco products, manufacture of textiles, wearing apparel and leather related products, and mining and quarrying were the main contributors in most of the provinces.

Following a similar pattern to the sectoral performance in national GDP, the lowest contribution to PGDP was from agriculture activities in all the provinces, ranging from 2.0% to 16.5%. The Eastern Province recorded the highest share of 16.5%, which was led by growing of rice, marine fishing and marine aquaculture, and animal production.