Sri Lanka’s external current account recorded a deficit of US$128 million in September, returning to deficit after a single month of surplus in August, even as merchandise exports hit an all-time monthly high. The cumulative deficit for January–September stands at US$420 million, according to Central Bank data reported by EconomyNext on Sunday evening.
The month in one line of arithmetic
The September figures close almost exactly, which is worth setting out because it shows what is actually holding the external accounts together.
| Component | September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Merchandise exports | +US$1,377mn |
| Merchandise imports | −US$2,109mn |
| Trade balance | −US$732mn |
| Services surplus | +US$119mn |
| Primary income | −US$241mn |
| Workers’ remittances | +US$734mn |
| Current account | −US$128mn |
Those lines sum to about −US$120 million, within US$8 million of the reported deficit — the residual being other secondary-income flows the filing does not itemise.
The shape of it is stark: a US$732 million goods deficit was very nearly erased by US$734 million of workers’ remittances alone. Remittances rose 5.6% year-on-year in September and are up 18.1% to US$6.9 billion over nine months. They are, on these numbers, the single line keeping the current account close to balance.
The month also reconciles against this desk’s earlier reporting. The cumulative deficit through August was US$291 million; through September it is US$420 million. The US$129 million difference matches the stated monthly deficit. The cumulative trade deficit likewise moved from US$7.2 billion to US$7.9 billion — a US$0.7 billion step consistent with September’s US$732 million gap. A year earlier the nine-month trade deficit was US$5.2 billion.
Exports set a record and it was not enough
Export earnings rose 21% to US$1.377 billion, the highest monthly merchandise total on record — a figure this desk reported on Friday, driven by petroleum re-exports and machinery rather than traditional export lines. Imports rose only 2.9% to US$2.109 billion, so the trade deficit did narrow year-on-year.
It narrowed from a wide base. Two import lines moved sharply in opposite directions:
- Fuel spending fell for the fifth consecutive month on a month-on-month basis, though cumulative fuel imports are still up 51.5% for the year at about US$4.5 billion — covered separately here.
- Motor vehicles fell 34.4% year-on-year to US$188 million in September, with cumulative spending of US$1.87 billion.
Services and tourism are the weak side
The services account surplus declined 34.3% to US$119 million in September, as travel and air transport payments grew faster than inflows. The cumulative surplus fell 22.3% to US$2.2 billion.
Tourism is the part that does not match the recovery narrative. Arrivals eased just 0.3% year-on-year in September and are down 1.8% over nine months — essentially flat. But cumulative tourism earnings fell 9.2% to US$2.2 billion. Earnings falling five times faster than arrivals implies receipts per visitor down roughly 7.5% over the period. September itself was better: earnings of US$186 million, up 1.5%.
One caution on the figures: the filing reports the nine-month services surplus and nine-month tourism earnings as the same rounded US$2.2 billion. These are different measures — one is net of outflows, the other gross — and each is independently plausible at that scale, but readers should not treat the coincidence as a relationship.
The primary income deficit widened to US$241 million from US$152 million a year earlier, which the Central Bank attributes largely to higher dividend payments on direct investments.
Investors sold, reserves held
Foreign investors were net sellers of Sri Lankan financial assets in September. Government securities saw a net outflow of US$39.9 million, and the Colombo Stock Exchange a net outflow of US$4.7 million across primary and secondary market transactions.
Gross official reserves stood at US$6.9 billion at end-September, including the currency swap facility with the People’s Bank of China — consistent with the US$6.85 billion reported for the month earlier in October. The rupee had depreciated 6.8% against the US dollar on a year-to-date basis by end-October.
A single-outlet report
EconomyNext is the only verified newsroom to have carried the September external sector data at the time of writing, roughly six hours after the release. The Central Bank’s own release page returns an access denial to this desk on every route tested, and Ada Derana — which carried a related item — returns a CloudFront 403.
One search result requires a note. An island.lk report headlined “Trade deficit widens to $7.9 billion as import surge outpaces exports” matches this filing’s cumulative trade-deficit figure exactly. It is not the same story: that article is dated 16 February 2026 and reports the full-year 2025 trade deficit, which also came to US$7.9 billion, against US$6.1 billion in 2024. The identical headline number across two different reporting periods makes it an unusually convincing false match, and it was not used.
Sources: Sri Lanka current account returns to deficit in Sep 2026 — EconomyNext, November 1.
