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Colombo imposed age restrictions on girls working abroad in 2013 after a 17-year-old Sri Lankan nanny was beheaded in Saudi Arabia over the loss of life of a kid in her care.
Following outrage over the execution, solely girls older than 23 had been allowed to go overseas, whereas for Saudi Arabia the minimal age was set at 25.
However with Sri Lanka in its worst financial disaster since independence, the federal government on Tuesday eased the principles, together with for Saudi Arabia.
“The cupboard of ministers authorised the choice to decrease the minimal age to 21 years for all international locations given the necessity to enhance overseas employment alternatives,” spokesman Bandula Gunawardana advised reporters.
Remittances from Sri Lankans working overseas have lengthy been a key supply of overseas change for the nation, bringing in round $7 billion per yr.
This quantity dived in the course of the coronavirus pandemic to $5.4 billion in 2021 and was forecast to drop beneath $3.5 billion this yr due to the financial disaster.
Greater than 1.6 million folks from the nation of twenty-two million work overseas, primarily within the Center East.
The South Asian nation’s overseas forex reserves are so low that the federal government has restricted imports even of necessities together with meals, gas and medication.
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