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August overseas worker remittances up 18% to US $ 681Mn
MIRROR BUSINESS DESK
Sri Lankans living abroad continue to send back home their hard earned money in large sums every month, helping to further bolster the country’s still fragile external sector and thereby strengthening the overall economy which appears to be firing from all cylinders at present as seen from virtually every economic reading.
The country received US $ 680.8 million as worker remittances in August 2025 compared to US $ 577.5 million received in the same month a year ago, logging a solid 17.9 percent growth between the two periods.
In July 2025, Sri Lanka received US $ 697.3 million in worker remittances, slightly higher than what the country received in August.
What matters however is how much the country is capable of earning more from the same period last year and so far Sri Lanka has increased its total 8-months remittance income by a robust 19.3 percent from the corresponding period in 2024.
During the first 8-months in 2025, Sri Lanka received a stronger US $ 5,116.0 million in total remittances compared to US $ 4,288.2 million received in the same period in 2024.
From around the second half of 2022 onwards, Sri Lanka has been able to gradually increase what it earns from remittances due to various policy measures.
First, the floating of the currency which had long been fixed at Rs.198-203 for a dollar from March 07, 2022 and the rupee’s fast descent to over Rs.360.0 to a dollar in its aftermath prompted those who used to send their money via informal money changes to shift back to formal banking channels due to the extremely high official conversion rate.
Second, the authorities started cracking down on the informal money changers who offered extremely high premiums to that of what the banks offered for changing dollars.
Next, a section of the expatriate workers who held back from sending money home following pandemic and the economic crisis, started sending back their earnings again when the then government was forced out of power in July 2022.
Further, a record number of Sri Lankans who fled the country’s deplorable economic conditions since around 2022, looking for better employment and living conditions, started sending back part of their earnings back home to their kith and kin, helping the country to gradually raise its earnings from remittances.
At the current pace of growth, Sri Lanka could end up receiving its highest ever annual income from remittances in 2025.
The last time Sri Lanka earned higher earnings from remittances was back in 2020 when the country received US $ 7.1 billion due to the less accessibility of informal money changers during the pandemic. In 2024, Sri Lanka received US $ 6.58 billion in remittances, up 10.1 percent.
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