Workers’ remittances inflows into Sri Lanka declined sharply for the third consecutive month in August erasing the growth see in remittances inflows in the early months of the year.
The Island nation saw a 32.7 percent decline in workers’ remittances in August this year compared to August last year, recording $446.6 million inflows in the month.
Since June this year, official workers’ remittances inflows have been contracting and August inflows were the lowest so far during the year. As a result, cumulative inflows declined by 2.8 percent Year-on-Year basis to $4.2 billion in the eight-month period up to August this year.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) earlier this year upped the workers’ remittances forecast to $8 billion turning optimistic on prospects, due to an unusual upturn in workers’ remittances in the pandemic era while ignoring warning signs. However, it later revised the forecast the target back to $7.5 billion.
A continuous decline in workers’ remittances inflows is expected to further deteriorate the ongoing foreign exchange shortage that prevails in the country which led to import and capital controls.