Sri Lanka reported its slowest economic growth rate in five years last year, underlining the need for the government to push ahead with talks on a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund.

Gross domestic product on the island rose 6 per cent last year compared with 6.8 per cent in 2007 – its slowest annual rate of growth since 2004. Growth in the fourth quarter of last year was just 4.3 per cent.