Sri Lanka's economic growth slowed slightly to 4.8 percent last year due to a fall in exports of its main commodity, tea, official figures showed on Tuesday. The figure marked only a marginal decline on 2014, but will add to concerns after international lenders and ratings agencies warned the country is heading for a debt crisis.
Tea production dropped 2.6 percent during 2015 to about $545 million, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement, while exports fell by nearly seven percent to 306 million kg (673 million pounds).
The declines were offset by services, which grew 56.6 percent, and industrial output, which expanded by 26.2 percent.
Last week the government announced a series of emergency tax increases to combat a debt crisis that has forced it to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has put on hold for one year plans to lower corporate taxes, and has revived a capital gains tax abolished in 1987. The moves are aimed at repairing the economy, battered by mounting debt repayments that led ratings agency Fitch to downgrade Sri Lanka's credit rating last month.
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