Sri Lanka’s external sector remained resilient with increased inflows from workers’ remittances and tourist earnings despite an expansion in the trade deficit In July 2024.

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, workers’ remittances amounted to US$ 567 million in July 2024 in comparison to the US$ 541 million recorded in July 2023. Monthly workers’ remittances exceeded US$ 500 million for five consecutive months.

Meanwhile, earnings from tourism in July 2024 were estimated at US$ 328 million, in comparison to the US$ 151 million recorded in June 2024 and US$ 219 million reported in July 2023.

Sri Lanka’s Gross Official Reserves (GOR) stood at US dollars 5.7 billion at the end of July 2024 compared to the US dollars 4.4 billion reported at the end of December 2023. 

The CBS states that this includes the swap facility from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which is subject to conditionalities on usability. 

Full report: External Sector Performance_July 2024 (Newswire)

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Cabinet approval has been granted for the implementation of the “Overseas Employee Salutation” programme (විගමණික හරසර) to evaluate the tremendous contribution by Sri Lankan migrant workers during the economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

According to the government, a request was made from overseas employees to contribute at least USD 500 million per month across legitimate means to decrease the trade gap encountered by the Sri Lankan economy in 2022. 

Followed by the positive response given by the overseas employees to that request, the employee remittances swelled up to USD 11 billion from June 2022 to May 2024. 

Accordingly, the Cabinet approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment to implement a programme named “Overseas Employee Salutation” to evaluate the contribution of overseas employees towards the economy. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka recorded a workers’ remittance of $544.4 million in May 2024, according to a recent report from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Sharing details on ‘X’, Minister of Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara acknowledged that the figures reported for May was a notable increase of 13.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.

Official data indicates that remittances during the first five months of the year totalled $2,624.4 million, marking an 11.8 per cent rise from the same period in the previous year.

Sri Lanka recorded a workers’ remittance of US$ 488 million in January 2024, an increase in comparison to the US$ 437 million reported in January 2023. 

Meanwhile, a 16% increase in foreign remittances, amounting to US$ 476.2 million, was reported in February 2024 compared to the same period last year. 

In March 2024, Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittances increased to US$ 572.4 million compared to the same period last year. 

Foreign remittances reached US$ 543.8 million in April 2024, marking a 19.7% increase compared to the same period in 2023. 

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the continuous surge has been attributed to a greater number of expatriates utilising official banking channels. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittances increased in March 2024 compared to the same period last year. 

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, workers’ remittances of US$ 572.4 million were reported in March 2024. 

The CBSL said this was an increase compared to the figures recorded a year earlier, in March 2023, which was US$ 568.3 million.

Workers’ remittances of US$ 1,536.1 million were recorded from January to March 2024.

The CBSL said this was also an increase compared to the figures recorded during the same period in 2023, which was US$ 1,413.2 million.

Sri Lanka’s tourism earnings have also increased in March 2024, recording a figure of US$ 338.4 million.

According to the CBSL, this was an increase from the US$ 188.8 million reported in March 2023. 

From January to March this year, Sri Lanka recorded tourism earnings of US$ 1,025.9 million, an increase from the US$ 503.9 million recorded during the same period last year. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka recorded workers’ remittances amounting to US$ 488 million in January 2024.

The workers’ remittance recorded in January 2024 is an increase in comparison to the US$ 437 million reported in January 2023. 

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the workers’ remittances recorded in January 2024 are a drop compared to the US$ 570 million reported in December 2023.

The Central Bank said workers’ remittances have continued to record a broad-based increasing trend this year, despite intermittent seasonal fluctuations, since recording a notable recovery in 2022. (NewsWire)

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Sri Lanka has recorded a workers’ remittance of US$ 487.6 million in January 2024, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara announced.

Taking to ‘X’, Minister Nanayakkara said this was an increase of 11.4% compared to January 2023.

According to data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, workers’ remittances recorded a healthy level of around US Dollars 6 billion in 2023.

The Central Bank reported that Sri Lanka recorded the highest monthly value in December 2023 since April 2021. (NewsWire) 

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Sri Lanka has recorded a workers’ remittance of US$ 517.4 million in October 2023, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara announced.

Taking to ‘X’, Minister Nanayakkara said Sri Lanka has amassed a total of US$ 7.6 billion in workers’ remittances since he assumed duties as the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment in May 2022.

Minister Nanayakkara said the workers’ remittance recorded for October 2023 is 45.63% higher than the US$ 355.4 million reported in October of the previous year. 

Sri Lanka has amassed a total of US$ 4.8 billion in workers’ remittances during the first 10 months of 2023, compared to US$ 2.9 billion reported during the same period in 2022. 

Minister Nanayakkara said, thereby, the workers’ remittance recorded in the first 10 months of 2023 is 66% higher than that reported during the same period in the previous year. (NewsWire)

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The merchandise trade deficit widened in August 2023 compared to a year ago led by higher decline in export earnings than the decline in import expenditure. 

The deficit in the merchandise trade account widened in August to US dollars 307 million compared to US dollars 260 million recorded in August 2022. 

However, the cumulative deficit in the trade account during January to August 2023 narrowed to US dollars 2,964 million from US dollars 3,889 million recorded over the same period in 2022 due to a larger decline in imports offsetting the decline in exports.

• Export & Import earnings –

Both export earnings and import expenditure have increased in August 2023 compared to July 2023.

Earnings from exports in August 2023 marked the highest monthly earnings so far in 2023. However, earnings from merchandise exports declined by 8.7 per cent in August 2023, year- on-year, to US dollars 1,119 million. Cumulative export earnings during January to August 2023 also declined by 10.1 per cent over the same period in the last year, amounting to US dollars 8,010 million.

Expenditure on merchandise imports declined by 4.0 per cent (year-on-year) to US dollars 1,426 million in August 2023. However, a marginal increase in import expenditure is observed from June 2023 onwards, on a month-on-month basis, partly supported by the relaxations of import restrictions. Cumulative import expenditure during January to August 2023 declined by 14.3 per cent to US dollars 10,974 million, compared to the same period in the previous year.

• Workers’ remittances –

Workers’ remittances recorded notable improvement in August 2023 compared to the previous year.

Workers’ remittances amounted to US dollars 499 million in August 2023 in comparison to US dollars 325 million in August 2022 and US dollars 541 million in July 2023. 

Based on the provisional data, total departures for foreign employment in August 2023 and during January to August 2023 amounted to 26,131 and 197,146, respectively, in comparison to the total departures of 311,056 recorded in 2022.

• Earnings from tourism –

Tourist arrivals declined to 136,405 in August 2023, compared to 143,039 arrivals recorded in July 2023, reflecting seasonal patterns observed annually. 

However, the cumulative tourist arrivals improved notably during January to August 2023 and amounted to 904,318, compared to 496,430 arrivals recorded during the corresponding period in 2022. 

Earnings from tourism in August 2023 were estimated at US dollars 211 million, in comparison to the estimates of US dollars 219 million in the previous month and US dollars 68 million in the corresponding month in 2022. Consequently, earnings from tourism during January to August 2023 amounted to US dollars 1,304 million, compared to US dollars 833 million in the corresponding period in 2022. 

• Gross Official Reserves –

Gross Official Reserves were estimated at US dollars 3.6 billion by end August 2023.

This included the swap facility from the People’s Bank of China, equivalent to around US dollars 1.35 billion, which is subject to conditionalities on usability. 

The Central Bank supplied US dollars 171 million to the domestic foreign exchange market on net basis during the month. Overall, the Central Bank has purchased around US dollars 1.5 billion, on net basis, during January to August 2023.

Full report: https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/sites/default/files/cbslweb_documents/press/pr/press_20231002_external_sector_performance_August_2023_e.pdf (NewsWire)

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The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) states a sum of US$ 499.2 million has been recorded as workers’ remittances in August 2023.

The CBSL stated that the cumulative figure from January to August 2023 is US$ 3,862.7 million.

It is an increase of 74.4% compared with the same period in 2022, the bank added.

However, the workers’ remittance recorded in August is a decrease compared to that recorded in July 2023.

Sri Lanka recorded a workers’ remittance of US$ 541 million in July 2023, and it  was a 78% surge compared to last year.

“Cumulative remittances by Sri Lankan global workforce reached US$ 3363.6 million,” Minister of Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said at the time.

According to data from the Central Bank, a total of US$ 476 million was recorded in workers’ remittances in June 2023, while US$ 480 million was recorded in May 2023, and US$ 454 million in April.

The first three months of 2023 saw Sri Lanka Foreign workers’ remittances of US$ 437.5 million being recorded in January, US$ 407.4 million in February, and US$ 568.3 million in March 2023. (NewsWire)

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