Sri Lanka eases overseas work limits
Schools, govt offices shut as crisis deepens
COLOMBO: Crisis-hit Sri Lanka yesterday reduced to 21 the minimum age at which women can go abroad for work and earn much-needed dollars for the bankrupt economy.
Colombo imposed age restrictions on women working overseas in 2013 after a 17-year-old Sri Lankan nanny was beheaded in Saudi Arabia over the death of a child in her care.
Following outrage over the execution, only women older than 23 were allowed to go abroad, while for Saudi Arabia the minimum age was set at 25. But with Sri Lanka in its worst economic crisis since independence, the government yesterday eased the rules, including for Saudi Arabia.
“The cabinet of ministers approved the decision to lower the minimum age to 21 years for all countries given the need to increase foreign employment opportunities,” spokesman Bandula Gunawardana told reporters.
Remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad have long been a key source of foreign exchange for the country, bringing in around $7 billion (246 billion baht) per year. This number dived during the coronavirus pandemic to $5.4 billion in 2021 and was forecast to drop under $3.5 billion this year because of the economic crisis.
More than 1.6 million people from the nation of 22 million work abroad, mainly in the Middle East.
The South Asian country’s foreign currency reserves are so low that the government has restricted imports even of essentials including food, fuel and medicine.
Sri Lanka closed schools and halted non-essential government services on Monday, starting a two-week shutdown to conserve fuel reserves as the IMF opened talks with Colombo on a possible bailout. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of motorists waited in miles-long queues across the country for petrol and diesel despite the energy ministry announcing fresh stocks would not arrive for at least three days.
Sri Lanka is facing record-high inflation and lengthy power blackouts that have contributed to months of protests — sometimes violent — calling on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.