DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

to Sri Lanka. However, by 2004 the fisheries sector accounted for just 6.2 per cent of
GDP, but this figure included an estimated value added contribution of 3 per cent due to
the increase in canned, frozen and fresh on ice products since the mid-1990s.
Graph 1: GDP by ISIC Sector (constant 1995 prices)
8.0
7.0
GDP Biliion Rufiyaa
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Year (1984-2003)
Total GDP at basic prices Primary sector Secondary sector Tertiary sector
Source: Table 15.2, 25 years Statistics, MPND, 2005
As the role of the fisheries dominated primary sector declined in the economy, the
tertiary sector has become the main contributor to GDP accounting for almost 80 per cent
in 2004 (see Table 2.2 below). This change has been largely due to the successful
development of tourism, which accounted for 33 per cent of GDP in 2004 and reflects the
result of a continuous annual growth of the sector averaging almost 14 per cent over two
decades.
During the last decade other service related economic activities have recorded significant
growth. In particular, domestic trade, transport and communications, financial services
and government administration have accounted for an increasing share of GDP. Transport
and communications have been the economy’s second most important locomotive,
accounting for 15 per cent of GDP in 2004. This activity is likely to see further growth
from expected investments in telecommunications.
As far as the secondary sector is concerned, manufacturing activity is set to decline due to
the collapse of the Sri Lankan-owned and operated textile and apparel factories, which
had been established to take advantage of the otherwise idle USA import quotas under the
Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA). But there is scope for fish processing to increase. Fish
processing was introduced in the mid-1990s through the state-owned Maldives Industrial
Fishing Company (MIFCO) - to increase. Since 2002 liberalization of fish processing
activities has led to a small but growing private export oriented industry.
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