Workers’ remittances increased notably to US$ 454 Mn in April 2023
Bangladesh’s US$ 200 mn loan To be settled in Sept.
Purchased USD 662 Mn, the highest monthly amount in May
Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves continued to increase and passed the US$ 3 billion mark in May after being almost zero nine months ago. The usable reserves had also moved up to USD 1.6 billion.
Gross official reserves continued to increase, recording at US dollars 2.8 billion at end April 2023.This included the swap facility from the People’s Bank of China, equivalent to around US dollars 1.4 billion and many other receipts from donor agencies.
Answering a question posed by the Daily News, Central Bank Governor Dr.Nandalal Weerasinghe said that Sri Lanka will settle the US$ 200 million borrowed from Bangladesh in August or September.
The Central Bank Governor disclosed that the Central Bank so far purchased USD 1,671 million from the market in this year and purchased USD 662 million, the highest monthly amount, in May. “This also helped towards the appreciation of the Sri Lanka Rupee.”
He said the Opposition and even some international agencies dedicated to financial reporting had predicted earlier and are still saying that the US dollar would climb up to around Rs. 350 and this too has proved to be a blatant lie. ‘During the year up to May 31, 2023, the Sri Lanka Rupee appreciated by 22.9% against the US dollar.’
Workers’ remittances increased notably to US$ 454 million during April 2023 in comparison to US$ 249 million in April 2022. Meanwhile, based on the provisional data, total departures for foreign employment during January to April 2023 and departures in April 2023 amounted to 95,892 and 19,774, respectively, compared to the annual departures of 311,056 recorded in 2022.
Another major FOREX earner to Sri Lanka tourism also bounced back with earnings from tourism during January to April 2023 amounting to US dollars 696 million, compared to US dollars 591 million in the comparable period in 2022.
Arrivals too continued to exceed 100,000 levels during January to April 2023 and it topped the half million mark last week.