Worker remittances to top US$ 7 b in 2013

by Ananda Agalakada

With Sri Lanka focusing on sending more skilled labour who would fetch enhanced salaries abroad, Minister for Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Dilan Perera expects Sri Lankan migrant worker remittances to pass seven billion US dollars in 2013.

This will be an increase of over 16 percent from the previous year where migrant worker remittances exceeded six billion US dollars.

''In the Mahinda Chinthana policy of the Government, the need to promote and improve the image of Sri Lanka as a source country for high calibre professional, technical and skilled personnel in specialised fields has been clearly envisioned,'' the Minister said.

''The thrust, thus, is to increase the migration for skilled manpower rather than unskilled and female domestic workers. This policy has resulted in the reduction of the number of female domestic workers to below 50 percent from the 70 percent in 1995, which can be considered a positive achievement. We expect these figures to further reduce in the coming years" he said.

The Minister also increased the minimum eligibility age of women seeking foreign employment to 23. "In the next few years, I plan to increase this further. Plans are also under way to up their training to promote their status as housekeepers. This category of workers could earn more than US$ 400 per month" he said.

He said authorities would focus on a country specific, job specific and company specific strategy when training people for foreign jobs. "Training opportunities in various skills will be given to migrant worker aspirants via both government and private sector organisations. This will be in accordance with global employment needs", he said.

Also according to the Minister, migrant worker aspirants now need to obtain National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) above level 03 to show their competency in their chosen fields.

This would discourage migration of non-skilled workers and increase migration of skilled workers.

Currently Sri Lanka's migrant workers numbering over 1.7 million are the country's biggest foreign revenue earners.

Last year's remittances of six billion US dollars are equivalent to 8.2 percent of Sri Lanka's GDP, and 35 percent of the island's total foreign exchange earnings.