Mr. Manusha Nanayakkara, Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment, says that the decision to increase the duty concessions that can be obtained at the airport for the amount of money sent to the country by foreign employees will come into effect from May 1st, and accordingly, they will be able to get additional duty concessions based on the amount of money sent.
Accordingly, this relief is implemented under five categories.
Employees who send between $2,400 and $4,799 can get an additional $600 duty credit.Employees who send between $4,800 and $7,199 receive an additional $960 duty credit.Employees who send between $7,200 and $11,999 receive an additional duty credit of $1,440.Employees who remit between $12,000 and $23,999 are eligible for an additional $2,400 duty credit.Employees who remit $24,000 or more are eligible for an additional $4,800 duty credit.Anyone who has sent the relevant money to the country within a period of one year can avail this relief.
From May 1, 2022, workers who send money legally through the banking system will be able to get this relief.
The amount of money sent within a period of one year will be considered for this.
Furthermore, the minister stated that there will be a continued increase in these duty concessions.
The Minister stated this while speaking at a news conference held today (03) at the Ministry of Labor and Foreign Employment.
“Our goal is to increase the monthly amount of foreign exchange sent by foreign employees to one billion dollars. The amount of foreign exchange sent annually by India’s foreign employees has increased to 100 billion dollars. In such a situation, it is not a difficult goal to bring in a billion dollars monthly from Sri Lanka’s foreign employees.We are taking every possible step to ensure that the dollars sent by foreign employees are used for the country. That is why as a government, the anti-corruption act is brought. A Commission will be formed, and from now on we will stop spending money to build towers according to political needs. Investments are made only after paying attention to the effectiveness of the investments. No tax is charged for the money held in the banks which were sent to the country by foreign exchange foreign employees.
For this occasion, the Director of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. B. H. P. K. Tillakaweera and other officials of the Customs Department and representatives of commercial level banks were also present.