Sri Lanka’s remittances coming through official channels surpassed 2 billion dollars in the first four months of this year, helped by more expatriates using the official banking channels after the central bank gave up a parallel exchange rate regime.
The remittances in the first four months were 2,079.9 million dollars, rising 11.4 percent from the same period last year, the official data showed.
The island nation witnessed 1,867.2 million dollars through remittances in the first four months of 2023.
In April, Sri Lanka received 543.8 million dollars from official channels, up 19.7 percent from 454 million dollars in the same month a year earlier, the official data showed.
Sri Lanka’s external sector started has now recovered after the central bank started to run balance of payments surpluses following a decision to end money printing to sterilize interventions made with Indian Asian Clearing Union money.
Worker remittances coming through official channels fell in 2021 which could not be paid for by the banking system at the official rate as money was printed to sterilize interventions and keep a policy rate down, triggering parallel exchange rates, which were settled outside the formal banking system.
From April 2022, the rates were raised by unprecedented levels, slowing credit and the need to print money to keep rates down.
