January 25: Saudi Arabia will offer up to 200,000 jobs to Sri Lankan youths in 2023. 

Sri Lankan Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia is willing to take up to 200,000 Sri Lankan workers in 2023.

The minister told the media that Saudi Arabia offered 54,000 jobs to Sri Lankan youths in 2022, adding that over 300,000 Sri Lankans went for foreign jobs in 2022 and most went to the Middle East.

Workers' remittance is one of the main sources of foreign revenues for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan migrant workers remitted around 3.8 billion U.S. Dollars in 2022, the data at the country's central bank showed.

Following an unprecedented economic crisis, Sri Lanka’s Defense Ministry announced on Friday that it would give retirement to 65,000 soldiers from its 200,000-strong army over the year.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has recently hiked taxes and imposed harsh spending cuts to smooth the passage of an expected International Monetary Fund bail-out following a government debt default. 

The Island nation has been facing a shortage of food and fuel for months since the outbreak of the COVID-19.  (Agencies)