Sri Lanka’s external sector showed strong performance in March 2025, recording the highest monthly current account surplus since January 2023, according to Central Bank data.
The current account surplus reached US$ 459 million, marking the third consecutive month of positive balances.
Workers’ remittances surged to a record US$ 693 million, setting a new high for the month of March.
Despite a widened merchandise trade deficit of US$ 396 million, this reflected a slight improvement from February’s US$ 411.3 million.
Tourism earnings rose to US$ 354 million, compared to US$ 338 million in March 2024, contributing positively to the external sector.
Gross official reserves increased to US$ 6.5 billion, boosted by the IMF’s fourth EFF tranche and net forex market purchases by the Central Bank.
The rupee depreciated by 2.3% against the US dollar year-to-date as of April 2025.
Foreign investment showed mixed trends, with a US$ 49 million net inflow to government securities and a US$ 6 million net outflow from the CSE.
