Gross domestic product rose 8.4 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, the statistics department said on its website today. That compares with an 8.2 percent expansion in the previous quarter and the 8.1 percent median of five estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
The central bank left borrowing costs unchanged on Dec. 16 for an eleventh month even as Europe’s debt crisis curbs Asian exports and prompts countries from Thailand to Indonesia to ease policy. Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said Nov. 29 that Sri Lanka will probably refrain from rate cuts for the rest of 2011 even as it has room to move, as last month’s 3 percent currency devaluation revives price pressures.
“The central bank should hold rates steady,” said Bimanee Meepagala, a Colombo-based analyst at NDB Aviva Wealth Management Ltd., the nation’s biggest non-state fund. “With credit growth and the rupee depreciation, they’ll need to keep a close eye on inflation.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-21/sri-lanka-growth-holds-above-8-.html