Sri Lanka, Feb. 10 -- The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment expects 340,000 Sri Lankans to go abroad for work in 2025, its chairman announced during an awareness program for licensed foreign employment agents.

The Bureau's General Manager stated that migrant worker remittances are projected to reach USD 7 billion this year, following the USD 6.51 billion received in 2024 from 314,000 overseas workers.

Last year, 65% of Sri Lankan migrant workers took up professional jobs, while 35% engaged in lower-skilled employment. The Bureau aims to increase professional employment placements to 75% by 2025 while limiting minimum-skilled jobs to 25%.

Planned deployments for 2025 include 84,000 workers to Kuwait, 55,000 to the UAE, and 52,000 t...