Sri Lanka trade deficit soars

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, June 16 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka's trade deficit, largely because of higher food and fuel imports in April, soared to $659 million from $393.8 million in the year-ago period.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka reported Monday the deficit in the four months of this year totaled $2.045 billion, compared to $1.063 billion in the same period of last year, Colombo Page, a Sri Lankan Internet news site, reported.

Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves at the end of April totaled more than $3.3 billion, the bank said.