FactSeeker, an affiliate of the Sri Lanka Press Institute, has compiled a report on foreign exchange earnings during different regimes since 2002.
The report, based on Central Bank statistics, said Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government raised the forex earnings from USD 1.6 billion to USD 2.65 billion in 2005.
When Mahinda Rajapaksa took over, forex earnings stood at USD 2.73 billion, which he increased to USD 6.54 billion by the time his regime ended in 2015.
The highest figure during the past 10 years was USD 7.32 billion recorded in 2014.
During 2016, the second year of the Maithripala Sirisena government, foreign exchange earnings stood at USD 5.19 billion and by 2020 it rose to USD 6.69 billion.
In 2017, the country witnessed an inflow of USD 7.03 billion worth of foreign exchange.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa took over in 2019 and in the following year, the country earned USd 5.26 billion, but it dropped to USD 1.89 billion by 2022, when he resigned.
