Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product will increase 4.1 percent in 2021 amidst a recovery in private investment and consumption, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.  According to the ADB, progress on the Colombo Port City special economic zone, being built with Chinese assistance,  is expected to boost foreign direct investment.

 “Growth will benefit in the near term from increased private consumption as pent-up demand is released, and consumption and investment will benefit from low-interest rates and ample liquidity,” the Manila-based lender said in its Asian Development Outlook, Economynext reported.

“The strength of recovery in 2021 and 2022 will crucially depend, however, on the pace of vaccination in Sri Lanka and in key export and tourist markets. Sri Lanka plans to vaccinate nearly half of itspopulation by the end of 2021,” the ADB said.

But the agency said the country’s challenging macro-economic situation would in all likelihood moderate growth in 2022.

Monetary instability has hit Sri Lanka’s economy since a Latin America-style central bank was set up a by a Federal Reserve ‘money doctor’ in 1950.