Sri Lanka records strong tourist and remittance earnings

Strong tourist and remittance earnings have bolstered Sri Lanka's foreign inflows, the Central Bank said here on Wednesday, pushing the island's reserves to 6.3 percent. The Central Bank said in its latest report earnings on account of workers' remittances rose by 16.3 percent, year-on-year, to 570 million U.S. dollars in August 2013 from 490.1 million U.S. dollars in August 2012. For the first eight months of 2013, cumulative inflows from workers' remittances stood at 4.3 billion U.S. dollars, a growth of 10.9 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2012. "Earnings from tourism increased by 43.4 percent year-on-year, to 98.7 million U.S. dollars, in September 2013. Cumulative earnings from tourism during the first nine months of 2013 recorded a growth of 24.2 percent to 883.1 million U.S. dollars from 711.1 million U.S. dollars during the corresponding period in 2012," the report noted. Cumulative net foreign inflows to the government securities market amounted to 484.9 million U.S. dollars at the end September 2013, while the outstanding foreign holdings of Treasury bills and bonds remained at 3.6 billion U.S. dollars. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows amounted to 540.2 million U.S. dollars during the first half of 2013, an increase of 20 percent, compared to the first half of 2012. Furthermore, inflows to commercial banks during the first eight months of the year amounted to 664 million U.S. dollars. Sri Lanka's gross official reserves amounted to 6.3 billion U.S. dollars by end August 2013 while total international reserves, including foreign reserves of commercial banks, stood at 7.5 billion U.S. dollars, the Central Bank added.