External trade – 4th Quarter and Year 2022
Highlights
Fourth quarter 2022
Exports
Total exports for the fourth quarter of 2022 amounted to Rs 26,981 million, an increase of 17.3% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021. This is mainly explained by increases in exports of “Chemicals and related products, n.e.s" (+63.7%), “Food and live animals" (+30.0%), “Machinery and transport equipment" (+22.3%), and “Ship's stores and bunkers" (+19.6%), partly offset by a decrease in the exports of “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-4.9%).
Compared to the previous quarter, total export proceeds for the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by 0.4%.
Imports
Total imports in the fourth quarter of 2022 amounted to Rs 77,655 million, an increase of 14.8% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021. This rise is due to increases in imports of “Food and live animals" (+30.6%), “Mineral fuels, lubricants, & related products" (+30.0%), “Machinery & transport equipment" (+23.8%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (+10.5%), partly offset by decreases in the imports of “Chemicals and related products" (-17.6%) and “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material"
(-5.6%).
Compared to the previous quarter, total imports for the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by 0.8%.
Balance of trade
The trade deficit for the fourth quarter of 2022 worked out to Rs 50,674 million, around 13.4% higher than the deficit of Rs 44,672 million for the corresponding quarter of 2021.
Compared to previous quarter, the deficit for the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by 1.0%.
Year 2022
Exports
Total export proceeds for the year 2022 were valued at Rs 101,680 million, representing an increase of 24.0% over the 2021 figure of Rs 81,992 million. This is explained by increases in “Food and live animals" (+22.6%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (+18.6%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (+12.7%).
Imports
Total imports for the year 2022 amounted to Rs 292,429 million, representing an increase of 36.1%, compared to Rs 214,836 million in 2021. This is mostly explained by increases in “Mineral fuels, lubricants, & related products" (+80.4%), “Machinery & transport equipment" (+34.3%), “Food and live animals" (+32.9%) and “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (+23.3%).
Balance of trade
The trade deficit for year 2022 worked out to Rs 190,749 million, around 43.6% higher than the deficit of Rs 132,844 million for the year 2021.
Forecast for year 2023
Based on trends and information from various sources, the forecast of total exports for 2023 will be around Rs 110 billion,7.8% higher than the total exports of around Rs 102 billion in 2022. Total imports for 2023 including one-off items such as machinery for metro terminals, will be around
Rs 320 billion, 9.6% higher than the total imports of around Rs 292 billion in 2022. The trade deficit for 2023 is forecasted at around Rs 210 billion, 9.9% higher as compared to around Rs 191 billion in 2022.
