Sri Lanka’s remittances, tourism earnings improve in November 2022.
The Morning: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) data reveals that workers’ remittances continued to recover and recorded a notable increase in November 2022 over a year earlier and the previous month.
Accordingly, workers’ remittances increased to $ 384 million during November 2022, in comparison to $ 355 million in the previous month, recording the highest monthly remittances thus far during 2022.
Meanwhile, the data notes that the total departures for foreign employment were recorded at 25,376 during the month of November 2022. Total departures of foreign employment comprised unskilled (9,337), skilled (7,334), and domestic aid (6,058) categories. Total departures for foreign employment during January-November 2022 were recorded at 276,527, which has exceeded the annual departures in the pre-pandemic period.
Further, earnings from tourism increased in November 2022 over the previous month supported by the growth of tourist arrivals by over 40%, it added.
Tourist arrivals increased notably in November 2022 to 59,759, from 42,026 arrivals recorded in October 2022. Russia, India, Germany, the UK, and Australia remained the main source countries for tourist arrivals in November 2022. Earnings from tourism in the month of November 2022 are estimated at $ 81 million, in comparison to $ 55 million in the previous month, and $ 115 million in the corresponding month in the previous year.
Meanwhile, foreign investment in the Government securities market recorded a marginal net inflow during November 2022, while the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) recorded a marginal net outflow during November 2022.
Foreign investments in the Government securities market recorded a marginal net inflow in November, while cumulative net inflow during January-November 2022 amounted to $ 50 million. Meanwhile, foreign inflows to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), including primary and secondary market transactions, recorded a marginal net outflow in November 2022. On a cumulative basis, the CSE, including primary and secondary market transactions, recorded a net inflow of foreign investments amounting to $ 145 million during the 11 months ending November 2022.
The Central Bank stated that it continued to provide foreign exchange to the domestic foreign exchange market to partly finance essential imports. Consequently, the build-up of gross official reserves remained constrained. Meanwhile, the weighted average spot exchange rate in the interbank market remained around Rs. 363 per US dollar during the month.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s economy has shown great resilience to internal and external shocks through the years and is once again on the path to recovery after facing the global pandemic and its ensuing economic crisis. While key economic sectors have shown a steady growth in the past few months, the country’s private sector has shown a growth momentum as well as profits even amidst challenging economic conditions. Sri Lanka continues to build itself as an emerging business destination in the South Asian region supported by the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country. Given all these trends and the growing economic opportunities in the country, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the expanding opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/25012023/X_1 |