Tourism earnings down but remittances up in July

The fund flows to the current account of the country’s external account remained mixed in July. 
The earnings from tourism in July slipped by 1.8 percent YoY to US $ 352.5 million while worker remittances were up by 3.4 percent YoY to US $ 592.1 million after falling four months in a row.

However, the inflows from tourism during the first seven months were up 3.6 percent YoY to US $ 2.1 billion but the remittances during the same period were down by 5.7 percent YoY to US $ 3.9 billion.
This week the Central Bank said the falling remittances partly caused by slowdown in migrant workers is a blessing in guise because there is an acute shortage of workers in Sri Lanka in multiple sectors.

During July, the financial account of the external account received US $ 269.6 million from foreign investments in government securities and long term loans raised.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund also released US $ 167.2 million, its third tranche of its US $ 1.5 billion extended fund facility.

As a result of these fund flows, the overall balance of payment position by the end of July 2017 recorded a surplus of US $ 1.45 billion from US $ 356 million during the same period last year.