New Sri Lankan bank will cater exclusively to expats

Sri Lankan expatriates in the Middle East will soon be able to repatriate money back home via a bank exclusively opened for them in Colombo.

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Employment is initiating the concept of an exclusive bank. Once established, the bank will encourage the opening up of non-resident foreign currency acco-unts for each Sri Lankan going overseas.

The basic aim of the bank is to get full repatriation of money earned by Sri Lankans.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lankan Minister of Employment and Labour, first hinted at the concept of the bank during his meeting with the Sri Lankan ambassadors from seven countries in the region.

"We discussed the subject at length. We are looking to ensure the full repatriation of money, which our workers earn in full. It has been observed that there are dubious forces sponging the foreign exchange away from our workers.

"These forces are not sending the money directly to Sri Lanka and are using the opportunity to circulate black money. We feel that we are losing nearly $400 million. The total remittance to Sri Lanka is $1.2 billion," he said.

"A strategy to deal with this problem will be put in place shortly. The matter will be handed over to a consultant to carry out a study. Hopefully, we will have a system in place soon."

Explaining that it will certainly curtail migrant Sri Lankans from falling prey to dubious agents, the Sri Lankan consul general Bandula Somasiri said: "There is no doubt it will help migrant Sri Lankans who at times shy away from sending their money home through banks."

Does he mean the hawala? "No. Let me put it clearly: as compared to other subcontinent countries, hawala is not that big a racket in Sri Lanka," said Somasiri.