Monday Nov 09, 2026
Monday Nov 09, 2026
Monday, 9 November 2026 05:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Workers’ remittances surged to a record high in October, driving one of the strongest 10-month performances in the country’s history, despite heightened economic uncertainty from the ongoing Middle East conflict, a region that hosts a large share of Sri Lankan migrant workers.
Latest data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) showed that inflows rose 3.31% year-on-year (YoY) to $ 735.6 million. October marked the ninth consecutive month of exceptionally strong remittance inflows, highlighting the continued resilience of Sri Lankan migrant workers and the growing use of formal transfer channels.
Cumulative remittances for the first 10 months of 2026 also rose to over $ 7.6 billion, registering a robust 16.5% YoY increase and marking the strongest January-October performance in Sri Lanka’s history.
With export earnings and tourism facing external pressures, remittances have once again reinforced their position as Sri Lanka’s single largest source of foreign exchange, providing critical support to external reserves and broader macroeconomic stability.
The strong start to the year follows a historic performance in 2025, when full-year remittances climbed to $ 8.07 billion, a 23% increase from a year earlier and the highest annual inflow ever recorded.
The total exceeded the previous all-time high of $ 7.24 billion in 2016 by about 12%, firmly cementing remittances as Sri Lanka’s largest and most reliable source of foreign exchange during its ongoing post-crisis recovery.
CBSL data show that the rebound has been both sharp and sustained since the collapse in inflows during the 2022 economic crisis, when remittances fell 31% to a 12-year low of $ 3.78 billion amid acute foreign exchange shortages and the proliferation of informal transfer channels.
The turnaround began in 2023, when inflows surged 57% to $ 5.96 billion, marking the strongest post-crisis recovery on record.
Momentum continued in 2024, with remittances rising a further 10.1% YoY to $ 6.57 billion, supported by a wave of outbound labour migration as thousands of Sri Lankans sought overseas employment in the aftermath of the economic collapse.
Historically, Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittances averaged around $ 7 billion a year between 2014 and 2018, or roughly $ 600 million a month, reinforcing their longstanding role as a stabilising pillar of the economy.
