Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittances surge 16.3% in early 2025

By  News On Air   Mar 10, 2025

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has reported an increase in Workers’ remittances inflow during the first two months of 2025. The regulator said that the inflows grew by 16.3 per cent year-on-year to 1.12 billion US dollars, the highest for the period since 2021.

In February, remittances rose 15.1 percent YoY to 548.1 million dollars continuing with the positive trend witnessed in January. In 2024, remittances hit a four-year high of 6.57 billion dollars, up 10.1 per cent from 5.69 billion dollars in 2023. The recovery in remittance is crucial in its role in stabilizing foreign exchange reserves in the island nation which depends on tourism and remittances to build its forex reserves.

In 2022, a steep decline worsened the forex crisis, highlighting its economic importance for Sri Lanka which imports several essential commodities including fuel and medicines.