Workers’ remittances show first-time negative YTD

Workers’ remittances inflow has turned negative year-to-date (YTD) for the first time in recent years in August.

The move follows dip in inflows momentum experienced since March this year, except in June.

In August, inflows amounted to $ 446.6 million, a sharp contraction of $ 218 million or 33% from a year ago. This saw the inflows during the first eight months of 2021 decline by 3% to $ 4.22 billion from $ 4.34 billion in the corresponding period of last year. In July, remittances declined by 35% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) whilst the first seven months' haul reflected a 2.6% gain to $ 3.77 billion.

As of end-May, the YTD growth was a high 18% from the corresponding period of last year and it reduced to 11.6% in the first half. In June, the Y-o-Y drop was 16.4%.

In 2020, workers’ remittances increased by 5.8% to $ 7.1 billion compared to a decline of 4.3% in 2019 to $ 6.7 billion. The Government was originally expecting remittances to grow to 

$ 8 billion this year.

Owing to the impact from the multiple waves of COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Lankans have returned after being laid off from their overseas jobs.