Sri Lanka’s earnings from tourism were estimated at USD 342 million in January 2024, the Central Bank’s latest report on external sector performance revealed.

This is the highest monthly value the country has witnessed since January 2020.

According to the document, published on Thursday (Feb.29), Sri Lanka’s tourism earnings in January 2024 marked a substantial improvement compared to USD 269 million in December 2023 and USD 154 million in January 2023.

The country also attracted as many as 208,253 tourists in January this year, as opposed to 102,545 arrivals recorded during the corresponding period in 2023.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also recorded an improvement with respect to workers’ remittances in January 2024, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Workers’ remittances amounted to USD 488 million in January 2024, in comparison to USD 437 million in January 2023 and USD 570 million in December 2023.

Workers’ remittances continued to record a broad-based increasing trend, despite intermittent seasonal fluctuations, since recording a notable recovery in 2022, the Central Bank said further.

According to the Central Bank, the country’s earnings from merchandise exports have recorded a marginal decline of 0.8% to USD 971 million in January 2024 compared to USD 978 million in January 2023.

However, expenditure on merchandise imports went up by 6.2% to USD 1,512 million in January 2024 compared to USD 1,423 million in January 2023. The increase in expenditure on consumer goods and investment goods partly driven by the relaxation of import restrictions has contributed to this increase.

The report also revealed that the gross official reserves (GOR) continued to improve to USD 4.5 billion by the end of January 2024. This included the swap facility from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), equivalent to around USD 1.4 billion, which is subject to conditionalities on usability.

The increase in the GOR is attributed to the substantial net purchases of foreign exchange from the domestic market by the Central Bank. Overall, the Central Bank purchased USD 245 million, on net basis, during the month of January 2024.