Gross official reserves (GOR) improved to USD 4.4 billion by end December 2023. This included the swap facility from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) equivalent to around USD 1.4 billion which is subject to conditionality on usability.
Workers’ remittances amounted to USD 570 million in December 2023, in comparison to USD 537 million in November 2023 and USD 476 million in December 2022 Central Bank said releasing their ‘External Sector Performance for December 2023’.
Exchange rate continued to remain stable during December 2023 and recorded an appreciation of 12.1% during 2023. This appreciation trend continued since then and the Sri Lanka rupee appreciated by 2.1% against the US dollar in January 2024.
Foreign investments in the government securities market recorded net inflows of US dollars 210 million in 2023 despite a net outflow of US dollars 23 million in December 2023. Meanwhile, based on the provisional data on departures for foreign employment, departures in December 2023 and departures in 2023 amounted to 22,743 and 297,656, in comparison to the departures of 311,056 recorded in 2022.
Earnings from tourism in December 2023 were estimated at US dollars 269 million, in comparison to the estimates of US dollars 205 million in the previous month and US dollars 127 million in December 2022.
