For year 2009:

Expats remit over Rs 350 b

Fourteen percent increase over 2008:

The remittances of expatriate Sri Lankans has recorded an unprecedented increase to 3.3 billion dollars (Over Rs 350 billion) last year.

It was a 14 percent increase over the remittances during the previous year, 2008, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said yesterday.

One of the reasons attributed to this considerable increase in remittances by Sri Lankans working abroad was the information and education given to them by the SLBFE on finance management and security of dealing with banks of repute or with state sector banks.

It had been made compulsory for those going abroad for employment to open Non-Residential Foreign Currency accounts, he said in a press release. Another reason was that Sri Lankan domestic aides working in West Asian countries were sent for employment only after signing a legal employment agreement. The efforts of Foreign Employment Promotion Minister Kehaliya Rambukwella to hold talks with the labour authorities abroad, had made it possible to get salary increments for domestic aides in that particular region after 11 years, the release also stated.

There was also an increase in the number of Sri Lankans that went abroad for employment last year. The number was 247,119 of which 77,826 had gone to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 43,744 to Qatar and 42,400 to Kuwait. Generally, a majority of Sri Lankans working abroad, around 1.3 million are employed in the West Asian region and their remittances are a major contribution to the national economy.