Growth of manufactured exports, primary commodity dependence, and net export earnings: Sri Lanka

Abstract

Commodity composition and growth of exports from a “second-tier” exporting country, Sri Lanka, are examined in terms of “net” export earnings series derived using the input- output technique. The findings show that, in view of the high import intensity of the emerging export pattern, the conventional practice of using gross export data to analyze export performance leads to rather misleading conclusions as to the reduced importance of primary exports in the export structure and overall export growth.