The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake addressed the Ministry’s work amid Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange constraints, commending attention to foreign employment while urging a shift from low-skilled domestic work to officially trained, skilled migration. He proposed strengthening vocational skills, technology training, and English proficiency, citing the Philippines as an example, to increase the value of remittances. He noted that remittances reached US$6.58 billion in 2024 and said current monthly inflows of US$700–750 million could support higher annual foreign exchange earnings if sustained.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Have the 18 minutes I had earlier been reduced, Hon. Chairman? I hope you, also representing the Colombo District, would be magnanimous.
¶ 02 Hon. Chairman, we are discussing a very important Ministry at a time when the country faces foreign exchange difficulties. I am pleased to speak on the work programme of Hon. Vijitha Herath who leads three critical sectors.
¶ 03 On foreign workers, we should add as much official value—vocational skills—and then send them. Rather than only domestic work remittances, we should send skilled workers with technology and English, as the Philippines did. We must not just talk but implement.
¶ 04 In 2024, foreign remittances reached US$6.58 billion, from 5.97% growth the prior year and 3.79% earlier. Monthly inflows of US$700–750 million indicate about US$8 billion a year. If so, over the next five years we can...
Provenance
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- Hansard, Saturday, 15 March 2025 ·No. 1745317151078324 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 15 March 2025. No. 1745317151078324. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/11586