Workers’ remittances double to USD 4,862 YoY

Workers’ remittances from January to the end of October were USD 4,862 million and this was at USD 2,929 million during the corresponding period in 2022.

Meanwhile, based on the provisional data, total departures for foreign employment in October 2023 and from January to October 2023 amounted to 25,330 and 249,429, respectively, in comparison to the total departures of 311,056 recorded in 2022. Earnings from tourism from January to October 2023 amounted to US dollars 1,593 million, compared to US dollars 928 million in the corresponding period in 2022. Gross Official Reserves amounted to US dollars 3.6 billion by the end of October 2023.

The Sri Lanka rupee remained stable against the US dollar during October 2023.

Meanwhile, recording the highest import expenditure since April 2022 merchandise imports increased to US dollars 1,610 million in October 2023, compared to US dollars 1,336 million in October 2022. The deficit in the merchandise trade account widened significantly to US dollars 683 million in October 2023, compared to a deficit of US dollars 284 million recorded in October 2022 as well as US dollars 378 million recorded in September 2023. The merchandise trade deficit widened in October 2023 due to relatively low export earnings driven by subdued garment exports and high import expenditure driven by fuel imports, compared to October 2022 as well as September 2023.

Earnings from merchandise exports declined by 11.8% to US dollars 928 million in October 2023, compared to the corresponding month in 2022 as well as compared to US dollars 972 million recorded in September 2023. Earnings from the exports of industrial goods declined in October 2023, with a significant share of the decline being contributed by garments as most of the major garment markets to the USA, the EU, and the UK recorded a decline.

Expenditure on the importation of consumer goods increased in October 2023, compared to a year ago, due to broad-base increases in both food and non-food consumer goods.

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