Workers’ remittances increased notably to US dollars 541 million in July this year compared to US dollars 279 million in July last year, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Based on provisional data, total departures for foreign employment from January to July 2023 and departures in July 2023 amounted to 171,015 and 24,578. Total annual departures for foreign employment in 2022 was 311,056.
One of the other key revenue generators to Sri Lanka, the number of tourist arrivals increased to 143,039 in July 2023, compared to 100,388 recorded in June 2023.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of tourist arrivals during January-July 2023 amounted to 767,913, compared to 458,670 arrivals recorded during the corresponding period in 2022.
Earnings from tourism in July 2023 were estimated at US dollars 219 million, in comparison to US dollars 123 million in the previous month and US dollars 85 million in the corresponding month of the previous year.
Consequently, earnings from tourism during January-July 2023 amounted to US dollars 1,094 million, compared to US dollars 765 million in the corresponding period in 2022.
India, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France were the main source countries for tourist arrivals during this period.
Sri Lanka tourism announced that they hope to achieve a revenue of over USD 2.55 billion for 2023.
Meanwhile from nearly a zero an year ago the official reserves increased to US dollars 3.8 billion by end July 2023, compared to US dollars 1.8 billion recorded as at end July 2022.
This included the swap facility from the People’s Bank of China, equivalent to around US dollars 1.3 billion, which is subject to conditions on usability.
The Central Bank supplied US dollars 13 million to the domestic foreign exchange market on a net basis during the month.
Overall, the Central Bank has purchased more than US dollars 2.0 billion, on gross basis, during January-July 2023.