NAN-F-8
Wages
Colombo, Feb. 20, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Sri Lanka is seeking to reverse a decision to impose a minimum wage requirement for the country’s workers travelling overseas for employment, a senior official said on Monday.
“New regulation which had imposed a minimum monthly wage requirement of 450 dollars for skilled workers seeking to leave the country and 350 dollars for unskilled workers is set to be withdrawn.
“The rule had only been introduced on Feb. 1.
“We have taken into consideration the impact it may have on the country’s economy as the job opportunities will reduce,” Secretary Ministry of Foreign Employment, G.S. Withanage said.
In 2016, Sri Lanka’s revenue from foreign workers remittances total of 7.2 billion dollars, the country’s biggest source of foreign income.
More than 1.5 million Sri Lankan workers are based overseas, mostly female domestic workers in Middle Eastern countries.
According to the report, numbers of Sri Lankans are going overseas for jobs already decreasing.
The government decided it was necessary to reverse the decision before it started impacting Sri Lanka’s foreign debt.
The country currently owes approximately 64.9 billion dollars, of which eight billion is owed to China, borrowed for major infrastructure projects during the previous government. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/SH
======
Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza