Korea has agreed to provide 1,047 jobs to Sri Lankans in Korea’s fisheries industry this year, a statement from the Government Information Department said.
According to the statement, this assurance was made after Sri Lanka’s Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakara met Korean officials at the newly opened facility of the Korean Human Resources Development Department.
A Korean language expertise test for said jobs in the fisheries sector is scheduled to be held in October, the statement said.
Workers who appeared for the test will also be given the opportunity to appear in another field next year.
With Sri Lanka’s forex shortage hitting the economy hard resulting in the worst economic crisis in its 74 years of independence, Sri Lankan authorities have focussed on different avenues to attract forex.
With expatriate employees refusing to send money through the banking system and using illegal channels such as Undial and Hawala, foreign remittances dropped significantly earlier this year. However, according to authorities, remittances are gradually coming to previous levels.
On Thursday August 18, Central Bank Governor Nanadalal Weerasinghe said foreign remittance levels are now returning, helping Sri Lanka mnimise the forex shortages.
Weerasinghe said the central bank is able to allocate the necessary dollars to bring in essential items such as fuel and medicine.
Meanwhile, to improve the remittances and provide livelihoods as higher levels of unemployment loom after a currency collapse the Ministry Labour and Foreign Employment is also encouraging the state sector employees to go abroad as well, the ministry statement said.
Source: EconomyNext
