Over 200,000 Sri Lankans leave for foreign jobs this year

Over 200,000 Sri Lankans leave for foreign jobs this year
September 12, 2022, 10:00 am

Busy street in Sri Lanka (File photo: Pixabay)

Sri Lanka's Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said on Sunday (Sep 11) that more than 200,000 Sri Lankans have left for foreign jobs in 2022 so far.

He said that these are the people who have registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, and some may have left without registering.

The minister said that remittance sent by expatriate workers to Sri Lanka reached 325 million U.S. dollars in August, an increase of 16.4 percent compared to July.

Around 330,000 people are expected to leave Sri Lanka for foreign jobs by the end of this year, the minister said.

The minister expressed gratitude to workers who have sent money through the banking system at a time when the country is facing a foreign exchange shortage.

Supporters of Sri Lanka’s ruling party shout at police during a clash with anti-government demonstrators, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on May 9, 2022. (Reuters)

The island nation is in the throes of its starkest economic crisis since it was granted independence from Britain in 1948, the ABC news reported. It has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising oil prices and economic mismanagement under previous governments.

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Rampant inflation, snaking fuel queues and shortages of essentials such as food and medicine have driven many Sri Lankans into poverty.

According to the United Nations, more than one-quarter of the population of 22 million is now struggling to secure adequate, nutritious food.

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