Sri Lanka Prosperity Index (SLPI), increased to 0.771 in 2017 from 0.661 recorded in 2016, mainly due to improvements in ‘Economy and Business Climate’ and ‘Socio-Economic Infrastructure’ sub-indices. Economy and Business Climate sub-index has improved during 2017, due to increase in per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and enhancements of the aspects associated with employment. With regard to the sub-index of Socio-Economic Infrastructure, improvements to the road network with the extensions to the expressways, construction of bridges and flyover projects, availability of electricity facilities and improvements in pipe borne water quality were the key drivers. Even though ‘Well-being of the People’ sub-index has declined during 2017 mainly due to the reduced levels of purity of environment and air quality, improvements were recorded in the aspects of availability of healthcare facilities, availability and quality of education, wealth of people and their engagement in entertainment activities.

All the sub-indices of PMI Manufacturing recorded values above the neutral 50.0 threshold signalling an overall expansion in October compared to September. The improvement observed in manufacturing activities in October was mainly driven by the improvement in new orders and production, especially in manufacturing of food and beverages activities, led by the positive outlook with the seasonal demand. Even though the employment in the manufacturing of food and beverages activities has improved with seasonal trend, overall employment slowed down. This was mainly evident in manufacturing of textiles, wearing apparels, leather and related activities due to difficulties to find employees in the market.