CB worried over tourism earnings, workers’ remittances

Saturday, 17 November 2018 01:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Central Bank this week warned against the moderation in tourism earnings and workers’ remittances.

Earning from tourism up to the first eight months was $ 2.93 billion, up by 12.5%. However, by end October, Central Bank estimated it to be $ 3.5 billion, up by 10.7% from $ 3.16 billion in the first 10 months of last year.

Tourist arrivals in October managed to grow by a disappointing 0.5% to 153,123 whilst the first 10 months figure was 1.8 million, up by 10.6%.

In 2017, earnings from tourism increased by 11.6% to $ 3.92 billion in 2017 from $ 3.5 billion in 2016.

On the other hand, workers’ remittances in August declined by 11% to $ 372 million and by 1% to $ 4.7 billion in the first eight months. By end September, workers’ remittances amounted to $ 5.27 billion, down by 1.5% from $ 5.35 billion a year earlier.

In 2017, workers’ remittances declined marginally to $ 7.16 billion from $ 7.24 billion in the previous year.