Bankrupt Sri Lanka allows women to work overseas

• Sri Lanka’s minimum age for women working abroad reduced from 23 to 21.
• Sri Lanka is experiencing its greatest economic crisis since independence.
• Remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad have long been a significant source of foreign money for the country, bringing in approximately $7 billion each year.

COLOMBO: The minimum age for women in crisis-hit Sri Lanka to work overseas and earn desperately needed dollars was decreased to 21 on Tuesday.

After a 17-year-old Sri Lankan nanny was beheaded in Saudi Arabia for the murder of a child in her care, Colombo placed age restrictions on women working abroad in 2013.

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However, with Sri Lanka experiencing its greatest economic crisis since independence, the government relaxed the requirements on Tuesday, 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 significant source of foreign money for the country, bringing in approximately $7 billion each year.

This figure dropped to $5.4 billion in 2021 during the coronavirus epidemic and was expected to go below $3.5 billion this year due to the economic crisis.

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The country’s foreign currency reserves are so low that the government has stopped importing even necessities like food, fuel, and medicine.