• Remittances grew 5.8% to $ 7.1 b 

Cumulative earnings from tourism for 2020 has been estimated at $ 957 million, the Central Bank said yesterday. 

With the launch of the pilot project to resume tourism, a few tourist arrivals were recorded in December 2020. Accordingly, 393 tourists from Ukraine visited Sri Lanka in December 2020. Consequently, total tourist arrivals were recorded at 507,704 in 2020, compared to 1,913,702 arrivals in 2019.

Workers’ remittances increased to a record high in December 2020. Remittances grew by 22.2% in December 2020, year-on-year, to $ 813 million. The improvement observed from June 2020 helped workers’ remittances to record a year-on-year growth of 5.8% in 2020, to reach $ 7,104 million during the year.

Trade deficit shrinks $ 2 billion in 2020

Govt. gross inflows dip to $ 2 b from $ 6.5 b last year: CB