Worker remittances to Sri Lanka fell to a seven-month low of US$695 million in June 2026, though inflows were still 9.3 percent higher than in the same month a year earlier, EconomyNext reported, citing central bank data.
It was the lowest monthly total since November 2025 and a drop of about US$152 million from the US$847 million received in May. Analysts quoted by EconomyNext linked the slide to the depreciation of the rupee since April amid renewed Middle East tensions — the region is the largest overseas job market for Sri Lankans — noting that expatriates often shift to informal channels such as Hawala and Undiyal when the exchange rate is uncertain.
Despite the monthly dip, the longer-term trend remains strong. Remittances over the first half of 2026 rose 23.2 percent year-on-year to US$4,604.8 million. Inflows hit a record US$879.1 million in December 2025, and the full-year 2025 total of US$8,076.2 million was an all-time high.
The central bank has credited the sustained recovery to its move away from a parallel exchange-rate regime, which had pushed many migrant workers toward informal money-transfer networks during the 2022 crisis. Rising outward labour migration, increasingly of skilled professionals, has also lifted formal inflows.
