Lankan Muslims forgo Hajj pilgrimage to save forex for the country

Over 1,500 Muslims who were planning to make the Hajj pilgrimage this year have decided to skip in a bid to help Sri Lanka conserve scarce foreign exchange.

Saudi Arabia had allocated a quota of nearly 1,600 persons from Sri Lanka for the Hajj this year. It was the first time in two years Sri Lanka got an opportunity as Saudi cancelled the practice of one of the pillars of Islam for outsiders in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.

The decision to forgo Sri Lanka’s participation was mutually agreed upon by relevant authorities and two registered pilgrim operators in consideration of the greater need of the country.  Sources said if Sri Lankans were to undertake the pilgrimage the cost would have been around $ 7 million.