WORLD THRIFT DAY 2025 - SRI LANKA: SAVING, INCLUSION AND RESILIENCE FOR A STRONGER TOMORROW

As Sri Lanka marks World Thrift Day on 31 October 2025, the theme of saving takes on renewed urgency.

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After the severe economic shock of 2022 and the ongoing recovery that followed, thrift is not only a private virtue but a public necessity — a tool that helps families weather shocks, supports small businesses, and strengthens the country's financial resilience. Sri Lanka's recent macroeconomic improvements have created an opportunity to translate recovery into durable prosperity — and building a national culture of saving is central to that task.

The past three years taught Sri Lankans the cost of extreme vulnerability: limited foreign reserves, high inflation and restricted access to basic imports. As growth returns — with positive GDP outlooks and external financing arrangements that have stabilized the macro picture households and policymakers both benefit from deeper precautionary savings and broader financial inclusion. Savings reduce dependence on expensive credit during emergencies, and pooled domestic savings create the investible resources a country needs to rebuild and invest in schools, health and infrastructure. Reuters+1

Sri Lanka has made measurable progress on financial inclusion. The Central Bank's National Financial Inclusion Strategy and the Financial Literacy Roadmap (2024-2028) set clear priorities: expand access to banking and micro-savings products, ramp up digital payments, and teach basic money skills from an early age. The Central Bank's 2025 initiatives — including the nationwide "Financial Literacy Month" and periodic Payments Bulletins — show a coordinated push to make saving practical and accessible, especially for rural and low-income households. These policy frameworks are important because saving isn't only about offering accounts; it's also about ensuring people know how to use them and trust the institutions that hold their money. Central Bank of Sri Lanka+2