US$ 3.3b remittances from Lankans working abroad

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) revealed that the 1.5 million-strong Lankan labour force in the Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern countries have remitted US$ 3.3 billion to Sri Lanka during the first ten months of this year.

Quoting the latest Bureau statistics, SLBFE, Chairman Kingsly Ranawaka told the Sunday Observer that out of the 1.5 million Sri Lankan migrant workers, a record number of 550,000 are currently employed in Saudi Arabia.He said 70 per cent of them are females, of which over 60 per cent are engaged in the non-domestic sector jobs.

The Bureau Chairman said United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the second top job supplier for Sri Lankans and nearly 400,000 were currently employed in that country.

The statistics also reveal that Kuwait has become the third largest employer of Sri Lankans with a workforce of around 225,000.

Ranawaka said our migrant workers had remitted over US$ 2.8 billion during the year 2008.

He said apart from the attractive salaries which prompted many Sri Lankans to seek jobs in these countries, the many welfare measures including medical facilities, bank loans and insurance schemes implemented by the SLBFE for the benefit of workers were other factors.

"Compensation schemes for workers in the event of their death or physical disability during their employment period, housing loans and bank loans for both the workers and their families and vocational training courses for workers prior to their departure are some of the new incentives introduced by the Bureau," he said. The Sri Lankan labour officials currently deployed in those countries also contribute to the welfare of migrant workers in numerous ways.He said most of these welfare measures were introduced earlier and additional welfare measures were introduced on behalf of our workers following instructions given by Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

Ranawaka said 40 per cent of Lankan workers are employed in non-Middle Eastern countries such as Cyprus, Maldives, Hong Kong, Italy and Singapore.