Nigeria Abroad
The Sri Lankan High Commission in Nigeria as well as its consulates in Germany and Cyprus will be closed from January 2022 over depleting foreign reserves.
Sri Lanka had foreign reserves of $1.58 billion as at the end of November, down from $7.5 billion when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office in 2019.
The country is also facing $26 billion foreign debt.
The closure of the three missions came on the same day the Central Bank of Sri Lanka tightened restrictions on foreign currency remittances received by locals.
It was gathered that the country announced the closure of three overseas diplomatic missions in a bid to save foreign currency reserves, as its Central Bank slaps tighter controls on dollars needed to finance essential imports.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that the Sri Lankan high commission and consulates in the affected countries would be closed from January in the restructuring.
According to the ministry, “The restructuring is undertaken with a view to conserving the country’s much needed foreign reserves and minimising expenditure related to maintenance of Sri Lanka’s missions overseas.”
