FinObservatory

Remittances

Sri Lanka

Personal remittance receipts of $6.72B in 2024, 6.75% of GDP, from 50 annual observations starting in 1975.

Received, 2024
$6.72B
Share of GDP, 2024
6.75%
Rank in 2024
30th of 160
Net, 2024
$6.56B
Years of receipts
50

Received and paid, US$ billion

0.02.04.06.08.019801990200020102020ReceivedPaid

Source: World Bank WDI: personal remittances received (BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), paid (BM.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), current US$ Gross flows in current US dollars. A gap in a line is a year with no observation, not a zero. Methodology

Receipts as a share of GDP

The highest reading in the series is 8.53% in 2014.

0.0%2.5%5.0%7.5%10%19801990200020102020% of GDP

Source: World Bank WDI: personal remittances received (BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), paid (BM.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), current US$ | World Bank WDI: GDP, current US$ (NY.GDP.MKTP.CD) Both series are current US dollars from the same WDI vintage; the share moves with the dollar GDP denominator as well as with the inflow. Methodology

Where the money is modelled to come from, 2021

The corridor matrix is a model, not a measurement

The 10,229 corridors in this matrix (212 sending economies, 175 receiving) are not observed payments. The World Bank builds it by allocating each country’s total recorded receipts across origins using bilateral migrant stocks and origin-destination incomes. A corridor value is therefore an estimate produced by that allocation rule. The matrix exists for one year, 2021, and no other.

The matrix routes $5.52B into Sri Lanka for 2021, from 76 origin countries. The five largest account for 58.3% of that total. The balance-of-payments series reports $5.52B of receipts for 2021, so the modelled total is the same figure.

OriginModelled valueShare of modelled total
Saudi Arabia$1.48B26.7%
Qatar$487.0M8.8%
India$436.1M7.9%
Australia$419.9M7.6%
Canada$401.5M7.3%
United Kingdom$359.5M6.5%
United Arab Emirates$356.3M6.5%
Italy$263.5M4.8%
United States$158.0M2.9%
France$154.8M2.8%

Source: World Bank / KNOMAD Bilateral Remittance Matrix | World Bank WDI: personal remittances received (BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), paid (BM.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), current US$ Every row is an allocation from migrant-stock and income data, not an observed payment. Methodology

Modelled outward corridors, 2021

The same matrix sends $123.7M out of Sri Lanka across 43 corridors. These are modelled allocations too.

DestinationModelled value
India$44.6M
Italy$16.1M
China$10.4M
Qatar$7.7M
Japan$5.5M

Source: World Bank / KNOMAD Bilateral Remittance Matrix Methodology

This page exists because Sri Lanka has 50 annual receipt observations, at or above the 10-year minimum. Methodology | All receivers