Sri Lanka received US$ 767.9 million in workers’ remittances in April 2026, according to data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) — a record for the month and one of the strongest single-month inflows on record.
The figure marks a 19% year-on-year increase from US$ 646.1 million in April 2025, but a 6.1% decline from the US$ 814.7 million recorded in March 2026 — the first sequential drop after several months of growth in inward transfers. The April reading ranks behind only US$ 879.09 million in December 2025, US$ 812.73 million in December 2020 and US$ 751.13 million in January 2026 among the country’s strongest monthly performances.
Cumulative remittances for January-April 2026 rose to over US$ 3.06 billion, a 24.5% year-on-year increase and the strongest first-four-month performance in Sri Lanka’s history, the Daily FT reported. The strong start to the year follows a record full-year 2025 inflow of US$ 8.07 billion, up 23% on 2024 and about 12% above the previous all-time annual high of US$ 7.24 billion in 2016.
Gross official reserves were provisionally estimated at US$ 6.759 billion at the end of April 2026, the CBSL said, including proceeds from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) currency swap arrangement. The headline figure compares against reserves of US$ 6.83 billion at end-March, a small monthly decline that the central bank attributed to debt-service outflows during the Easter cycle.
The Sri Lankan rupee has depreciated by 3.6 percent against the US dollar on a year-to-date basis as of May 8, 2026, the CBSL noted. The Asian Development Bank has separately flagged that continued rupee weakness amplifies the cost of dollar-denominated oil imports at a time when global energy prices remain volatile.
Tourist arrivals stood at 135,643 in April 2026, down sharply from 183,979 in March and below the 174,608 recorded in April 2025 — the first year-on-year decline in monthly arrivals this year. The slowdown extends a trend already visible in the 27 percent month-on-month drop captured by SLTDA’s cumulative count.
The CBSL also reported that its net supply to the domestic foreign exchange market amounted to US$ 13 million in April 2026 on a value-date basis, indicating modest intervention compared with prior months. The remittances data complements the Q1 2026 aggregate of US$ 2.2 billion released earlier this year.
Separately, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment said 79,954 Sri Lankans departed for overseas employment during the first four months of 2026, Ada Derana reported on Tuesday. The largest single group — 17,012 workers — travelled to the United Arab Emirates. SLBFE attributed the growth in placements and remittances to bilateral labour agreements, new markets for skilled workers and welfare benefits for migrant employees.
Sources: Newswire · Newswire · Daily FT · Ada Derana.
