While noting that the monthly remittances from expatriate workers have now dropped to around US$ 230 million, Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara made an urgent appeal to the country’s migrant worker fraternity to make their remittances through the formal banking system, instead of using illegal methods and help boost the country’s dwindling foreign reserves.
He said in recent years, migrant worker remittances had increased to around US$ 7 to US$ 8 billion per annum and identified using illegal methods as the main reason for the drop in remittances.
“I appeal you to send your hard earned money through banks, through legal channels as non-debt foreign exchange needs to be brought into the country as much as possible to overcome the country’s economic crisis.” Minister Nanayakkara was speaking at a ceremony to hand over air tickets to a group of persons chosen for employment in Israel and Japan, recently at the Labour Ministry premises.
The Minister said that today patients were at high risk as Sri Lanka is finding it difficult to import medicines due to the dollar problem and asked migrant workers to give their maximum contribution to save the country from that situation.
“Now the people of the country are starving. Children die in hospitals due to lack of medication. Today there is a shortage of 800 types of drugs. Due to the lack of gas, urban dwellers are unable to prepare their meals. Prices of goods have gone up due to the increase in oil prices. Minister Harin Fernando and I have taken on the major responsibility of bringing dollars into the country. Gas queues and oil queues can be stopped if a few dollars are sent to the country in the right way. The children will be able to get some medicine and milk powder,” he added.
He went on to say that migrant workers have the ability to recover the country from the current situation without further debt.
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