Tuesday Oct 14, 2025
Tuesday Oct 14, 2025
Monday, 13 October 2025 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittances surged to $ 695.7 million in September, marking the third highest monthly inflow so far in 2025, according to the latest data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
The figure reflects a 25.2% year-on-year (YoY) increase and represents the sixth consecutive month of record inflows, underscoring the steady recovery of foreign worker earnings.
Cumulatively, workers’ remittances in the first nine months of 2025 rose 20% YoY to surpass $ 5.8 billion, registering the strongest performance for the period since 2020.
The year-to-date (YTD) figure also represents an 8% increase compared to the over $ 5.38 billion registered in the same period of 2016—the year that holds the record for the highest annual workers’ remittances inflow at $ 7.24 billion.
The sharpest post-crisis rebound was in 2023, when workers’ remittances grew by 57% to $ 5.96 billion, recovering from a 12-year low of $ 3.78 billion in 2022.
In 2024, workers’ remittances hit a four-year high of $ 6.57 billion, up by 10.1% from 2023. This growth was followed by a record wave of people seeking foreign employment after an unprecedented economic crisis.
Historically, the highest-ever annual workers’ remittances were recorded in 2016, whilst between 2014 and 2018, the annual inflows averaged around $ 7 billion, or roughly around $ 600 million per month.
