The international financial institution raised its growth forecast for the Sri Lankan economy significantly from 2.2 percent in April to 4.4 percent due to an improvement in revenues from tourism and financial services and improvement in construction and public works, it said. World Bank.
The bank now expects the gross domestic product to grow by 3.5 percent in 2025 and 3.1 percent in 2026, which is less than the rate of South Asian countries of 6.4 percent.
And she suffered Sri Lanka In 2022, there was an economic and financial crisis, as a result of which it defaulted on its public debt amounting to $46 billion and led to the fall of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
A year later, the country received assistance from International Monetary Fund An amount of $2.9 billion in exchange for strict austerity measures that did not gain popular support.
The World Bank indicated that the situation remains weak in Sri Lanka, calling for the continuation of reforms and efforts to restructure the debt.
The bank confirmed that the crisis led to a nearly double increase in the percentage of the population living in poverty, from 13 percent of the population of 22 million at the end of 2021, to 25.9 percent in 2023, meaning people living below $3.5 a day.
The World Bank expects these levels to remain high in the next two years.
