COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s foreign remittances coming through official channels grew 57.7% from a year ago to 479 million US dollars in May 2023, official data show.
Sri Lanka’s official remittances started to rise after the central bank hiked rates and halted money printing, reducing the demand for outflows.
Sri Lanka’s official remittances fell to as low as 204 million US dollars in February 2023 as more money came through unofficial channels to feed import and outflows driven by newly created money.
Sri Lanka had received around 500 to 600 million dollars of remittances through official channels before a coronavirus pandemic and surge in money printing as the central bank embarked on a so-called output gap targeting exercise (monetary stimulus) from early 2020.
Sri Lanka still has import restrictions and the spread in the official banking system is also wide, amid an ad hoc pegging arrangement flexible exchange rate through which foreign reserves are collected to meet IMF targets.
Sri Lanka scrapped another set of import restriction last week. Analysts and classical economists have called for more rule based monetary policy to reduce discretion through flexible arrangement so that monetary stability will be provided for the economy to grow.
Official remittances went up as 568 million US dollars in March ahead of the April New Year holidays and eased to 454 million dollars in April.
-economynext.com
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