The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake questioned why migrant workers’ remittances, cited as USD 784 million from about 2.1 million workers in the previous month, receive only 4–5 percent interest from banks while the Government pays much higher rates on international sovereign borrowings. He asked the Deputy Minister to consider higher returns for remittance earners and to provide duty-free facilities for migrant workers when they return to Sri Lanka.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, according to the reply, most details are tabled. Therefore, my supplementaries are based on what we know. Hon. Deputy Minister, as I am informed, last month USD 784 million came from about 2.1 million migrant workers. After their hard-earned money comes to Sri Lanka, banks pay them 4–5 percent interest, while the Government pays 10–11 percent on international sovereign borrowings due to public debt stress. Why can we not offer a higher rate to the very workers sustaining the country? Also, why not provide duty-free facilities when they return?
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 22 July 2025 ·No. 1753443916033328 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 July 2025. No. 1753443916033328. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/13599