ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange earnings made up of exports, gross services including tourism and worker remittances totaled 2,331 million dollars in January 2025, exceeding imports by 546 million US dollars, central bank data shows.
In December 2024, gross foreign exchange earnings were 2,413 million dollars with exports of 1,101 million dollars and remittances of 613 million US dollars.
Exports were 1,052 million US dollars in January 2025, remittances were 573 million dollars, gross services were 705.7 million dollars including estimated tourism earnings of 400.7 million US dollars.
Computer and IT/BPO services were 68 million US dollars.
Services outflows were 287.4 million US dollars including travel abroad of 52.4 million US dollars.
In 2024 tourism earnings were 3,168 million US dollars and travel abroad was 755 million US dollars, up 50 percent from a year earlier.
Investment goods and base metals were 389 million dollars in January 2025, up from 294 million US dollars in January 2024.
As private credit picks up, investment goods and base metals tend to rise as exports, remittances and tourism earnings which are saved in banks are turned into domestic investments.
In order to build reserves and repay maturing debt, investments have to be balanced by a required interest rate.
If the interest rate is too low, private credit would surge and reserve collection would be difficult and debt may have to be repaid with reserves.
If money is printed, reserve will fall with consumer and other imports also rising.
Analysts had warned that the central bank was printing money in the last quarter of 2024 injecting rupee reserves into banks to boost credit.
Foreign reserves fell 26 million dollars in January. (Colombo/Mar01/2025)
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