Sri Lanka’s external sector continued its positive momentum in January 2025, supported by robust inflows on account of services exports, tourism and workers’ remittances despite an expansion in the trade deficit.
Jan 2025: USD 418 mn Jan 2024: USD 398 mn Supported by: Tourism (growth (y-o-y): 17.2%), IT/BPO (growth (y-o-y): 21.6%) Services (net) Including the swap facility with the People’s Bank of China USD 6.1 bn as at end Jan 2025
Gross official reserves: 3.8 months of imports.
The country recorded the highest monthly tourist arrivals in January notching 252,761 visitors, worker remittances grew 17.5% (y-o-y), while imports grew 18.1 percent to USD 1,786 million. Exports which increased by 8.5 percent to USD 1,053 million resulting in a trade deficit of USD 733 mn in January.
The current account recorded a surplus in January 2025 compared to January 2024 due to the improvement in the surplus in the services and secondary income accounts despite the wider trade deficit.
The growth of import expenditure outpaced the growth in export earnings, widening the merchandise trade deficit (y-o-y) in January 2025.
The terms of trade improved in January 2025, as the increase in export prices exceeded the increase in import prices compared to January 2024.
Earnings from tourism improved to an estimated US dollars 401 million in January 2025 with arrivals recording historically highest monthly level for any of January.
Workers’ remittances continued the growth trend in January 2025 (y-o-y). Based on the provisional data, total departures for foreign employment were recorded at 25,536 during the month of January 2025.
Foreign investments in the Government Securities market recorded net inflows while the foreign investments in the CSE recorded net outflows (including primary and secondary markets) during the month.
Gross official reserves (GOR) remained healthy at US dollars 6.1 billion by end January. GOR include the swap facility with the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
Following a depreciation in January, the Sri Lanka rupee appreciated in February.
