COLOMBO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's economic growth forecast for this year has been downgraded to 3 percent from an earlier 4 percent, though the country is on the path to recovery from the Easter Sunday attacks, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said on Friday.

"We expected growth to be about 4.0 percent earlier this year but we have now revised it down to 3.0 percent of GDP," Coomaraswamy was quoted by local media as saying.

Certainly the second quarter growth will be disappointing," he told reporters.

Coomaraswamy said the country was on a path to recovery following suicide bombings on April 21 which killed over 250 people and injured over 500.

The rapid removal of travel advisories was also helping bring back tourists, Coomaraswamy said, adding that the island country's tourism sector was worst hit from the terror attacks.