ABSTRACT
The Sri Lanka country study was initially part of a larger study on the impact of the global financial recession in the early years of 2000 on the migration of workers to the Middle East countries. The study has thereafter been expanded to examine both the impact of the financial crisis and of recovery from the recession from late 2009 to 2014. The first section of the chapter examines the changes that took place
in migration and related subjects such as remittances from 2008 to 2009, which was the period in which the impact of the recession was felt most acutely. The period of recovery from 2010 to 2014 is similarly analysed. A clear understanding of the relevance of migration to several facets of the economy and to society is helpful to grasp the full impact of any change in migration of workers. For this reason the discussion is backed by an account of the history and trends of migration from its inception in 1971 to the Gulf countries in 1975 and of its role in the macro-and microeconomy of the country.
