- Cumulative inflows up 82% to US$ 845mn
Workers’ remittance inflows continued their strong run in February as well with migrant Sri Lankan workers sending over US$ 400 million to their families who are undergoing difficult times.
February recorded US$ 407 million in workers’ remittance inflows, sharply up from US$ 204.9 million in a year ago and slightly down from US$ 437.5 million in January.
The remittance inflows may also have received a fillip from the record outflow of people last year looking for overseas jobs and others who left seeking greener pastures elsewhere as they were fleeing the economic crisis at home.
Sri Lanka saw a record 320,000 people migrating in 2022, the highest for any year.
With the February figure, Sri Lanka in total has received US$ 844.9 million in workers’ remittances in 2023, a 82 percent growth from the same period last year.
If the current uptrend in workers’ remittances persists, such income could top US$ 5 billion this year.
Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittance inflows lost steam in 2021 and hit a nadir in 2022 as workers migrating for foreign jobs plummeted due to the pandemic while the grey market channels which offered massive premiums to the official foreign exchange rate thrived.
Sri Lanka is currently seeing some easing up in the domestic foreign exchange market with increased inflows, lower imports and positive sentiments stemming from the country’s deal with the International Monetary Fund, which is expected to be approved on March 20.
As a result, the rupee which depreciated over 80 percent last year, appreciated in last couple of years by about 11 percent.
The Central Bank in a fortnight ago said the domestic foreign exchange market was returning to normal conditions.
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