Worker remittances up 25% in January

The Central Bank said yesterday that workers’ remittances in January saw a healthy growth of 25.4% to $ 473 million, whilst inflows to Government had risen to $ 296 million from

$ 184 million a year earlier.



Earnings from tourism also saw a robust 23% growth to $ 88 million in tandem with tourist arrivals improving by 16% to 85,874.

The Central Bank said that by end January 2012, gross official reserves, excluding Asian Clearing Union (ACU) balances, amounted to $ 5,806 million. Further, by end January 2012, total external reserves, which include gross official reserves and foreign assets of commercial banks, amounted to $ 6,973 million.

In terms of months of imports, gross official reserves and total external reserves by end January 2012 were equivalent to 3.4 months and 4.1 months, respectively.