Lanka Remit aiming to link entire financial sector
Sri Lanka's national remittance mobile app, Lanka Remit launched to attract foreign remittances through authorised channels, will eventually connect the entire financial sector in the country, officials said.
Channa de Silva, General Manager/ CEO LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd said the app is linked to several banks which in turn relate to money transfer houses and money exchanges to facilitate inward remittances by migrant workers. LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd with the CB (Central Bank) developed the mobile application which went from being an idea to being launched within a month, Mr. De Silva said.
Explaining it as an aggregator app, which connects all the different channels and stakeholders into one single application, he said it appeared in the Huawei App Store on 15 February. It is still not available in the Google App Store owing to backlog in their review process. “Google has a review process before they publish an app in the App Store but due to the big backlog in applications uploaded there is a slight delay. It will be available before the month end,” Mr. De Silva added.
Certain banks are yet to be integrated with the system. A banker said that increasing inward remittances through this channel needs more awareness, but it is a step in the right direction.
Mr. De Silva said the Foreign Ministry and the SLFB ( SL Foreign Employment Bureau) is already conducting awareness campaigns in West Africa to educate the large concentration of migrant workers on the app. “For those going abroad for work, the SLFB will be installing Lanka Remit in their phones."
For Sri Lanka, workers’ remittance is the single largest source of foreign income over the last few decades.
Last December foreign remittances to the country sharply dropped compared with the corresponding period in 2020, prompting the authorities to implement several incentive schemes for migrant workers.
For instance, compared to year 2020 Commercial Bank saw a 20 per cent drop in migrant remittances last year.
"However, our market share in worker remittances has slightly increased from 14.7 per cent to 15.1 per cent during that year. During January 2022, the remittances had reduced further," S. Renganathan, CEO Commercial Bank said. He added that inward migrant workers' remittances are much better than in November last year which saw exceptionally dwindling numbers.