Sri Lanka will continue its positive economic growth momentum for the rest of 2024 achieving close to 4% growth by end of the year, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

Speaking at an event by CMA Sri Lanka held last week, Weerasinghe said Sri Lanka will continue the positive growth momentum in the second quarter and the rest of the year as all leading indicators point towards a positive growth.

“We are hoping for close to 4% of year on year positive growth after a couple of years of negative contraction of the economy,” he said.

Earlier this month, Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe said that authorities expect an economic growth of 3-3.5% in 2024 despite a lower forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF expects a growth of 2% of GDP for Sri Lanka for 2024 while the World Bank expects it to grow by 2.2%.

Moreover, Weerasinghe said that the acceleration of inflation is between 1-2% despite the target range of CBSL being at 5%.

“Inflation is still well below and underperforming,” he said, adding that it is one of the issues CBSL is facing now because of the commitment to maintain a single digit with a range.

“We are breaching the lower band of inflation for a longer period, we have to report to the parliament and have consultation with the IMF on our commitment to maintain the inflation within a band,” he said.