The government said the foreign remittances have become a lifeline of the Sri Lankan economy and during the world oil crisis that hit the global economy in 2008 and 2009, Sri Lanka’s foreign remittance enabled to save Sri Lanka from the economic crisis.
This was disclosed by the senior Minister of International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama addressing Asian Forum on Remittances and Development held in Colombo.
He said foreign remittance must be looked upon as a part of the wider phenomena at migration of labour from developing countries to advanced countries.
“ Today economies of countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines and Korea benefited from mass migration of labour”, he said.
According to Minister Amunugama, over 1.5 million Sri Lankans are working abroad and there would be a serious unemployment problem if they return to Sri Lanka