COLOMBO– Sri Lanka’s foreign remittances have hit a high of US$ 702.1 million in July 2020, rising 24.9% from a year earlier, after dipping to US$ 375 million in April amid coronavirus lockdowns in most Western and Middle Eastern countries, official data shows.
The surge in July follow dips in March, April and May 2020 amid severe lockdowns, when workers were unable to visit banks or remittance houses to send money home, which may account for the surge when lockdowns were relaxed, analysts say.
In several countries expat workers in construction and hotel sectors have lost jobs and are waiting to come home.
However, those that are employed are also partially confined to home or working from home and are saving more money as many leisure activities and travel is curtailed, prompting them to send more money home than earlier.
Sri Lanka’s foreign remittances started to climb in the first quarter of 2020, for reasons that are not clear, after being stagnant or falling in recent years when domestic labour market tightened and restrictions were placed on females going abroad.
-economynext.com