Remittance corridor · World Bank RPW · 2025Q3
United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka
Average cost sits in the lower fleet tercile at 2.7% on this United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka route - cheaper than most RPW peers.
- 2.7%
- Average cost
- 0.3%
- Cheapest · DirectRemit (NBD)
- 9
- Providers tracked
How the 2.7% average cost breaks down
World Bank RPW splits total remittance cost into the provider's transaction fee and the exchange-rate margin applied to the transfer. Same 2025Q3 figures as the detail table below.
Corridor-cost tercile vs fleet
United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka posts 2.7% average cost, below the fleet lower tercile (~4.3%), ranking #20 of 348. Cheapest tracked floor: 0.3% via DirectRemit (NBD).
- #20 of 348
- cheapest-cost corpus rank
- 2.7%
- average cost of a $200 transfer
- -4.5pp
- vs the 7.3% average of 348 corridors
- Met
- gap to the UN 3% target
Compared against the 348 corridors in the 2025Q3 release, not a generic headline figure.
Based on average cost, delivery speed, FX margin, provider competition, and cost trend from World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide data, benchmarked against all 348 tracked corridors - not a quote or a prediction of what you will pay.
What changed
World Bank RPW release record: 2025Q1 to 2025Q3
- Average transfer cost changed from 2.41% to 2.70% (+0.29 percentage points).
- Lowest observed transfer cost changed from 0.73% to 0.25% (-0.48 percentage points).
- Providers recorded by the source changed from 8 to 9 (+1 provider).
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Where this corridor sits by provider panel size
United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka has 9 World Bank RPW providers among 377 tracked corridors (inventory signal, not a cost-quality ranking). Orthogonal to the cost comparison below.
United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka vs all corridors by provider count
Where this corridor's RPW provider panel sits among every tracked route
9 138th of 377 higher than 239 of 377 corridors
Corridors, banded by RPW provider inventory
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more corridors. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide · 2026-08-10
How United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka compares
Average cost of a $200 transfer, percent, lower is cheaper
2.70% average - target met
Cost trend: United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka
Average and cheapest cost of a $200 transfer over time, percent
Sending Country
Nearby Corridors from United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates is one of the most connected sending markets in our data, with 11 tracked outbound corridors. The 8 below span the widest cost range, from the cheapest to send anywhere from United Arab Emirates through to the most expensive.
| # | Destination | Avg cost | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pakistan | 2.9% | 0.1% |
| 2 | Philippines | 3.0% | 0.8% |
| 3 | Nepal | 3.4% | 0.9% |
| 4 | South Sudan | 3.4% | 2.7% |
| 5 | Egypt | 3.7% | 0.5% |
| 6 | India | 3.7% | 0.8% |
| 7 | Indonesia | 4.5% | 1.9% |
| 8 | Jordan | 5.2% | 4.3% |
World Bank RPW fee spread
Release 2025Q3 AE→LK
2.7% avg · 0.3% floor · 2.45pp spread on $200
- AVG 2.7%
- CHEAP 0.3%
- SPREAD 2.45pp
- SDG MET
- RANK #20 of 348
- REL 2025Q3
- PANEL 9
Cross-sender cost peers
Fee spread manifest for United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka: entity-varying RPW stamps plus cross-sender ABS(avg_cost) peers from the current release. Compare corridors side-by-side →
Low transfer cost on United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka
World Bank RPW prices United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka at 2.70% (2025Q3) - below the fleet lower tercile (~4.3%). That places this route among cheaper corridors on the panel, 3.7 pp under the ~6.4% global average.
That cheapest figure comes from the World Bank's mystery-shopping survey: trained researchers pose as customers and obtain real quotes for a standardized $200 transfer, across the 9 banks, money transfer operators, post offices and mobile-money providers RPW tracks on this corridor. It is a snapshot from that survey quarter, not a live guarantee -- confirm the current rate directly with the provider before sending.
Costs on this route have stayed essentially flat, moving 0.29 percentage points over the tracked period, unusual stability against the broader downward trend seen on most corridors. It currently meets the UN SDG 10.c 3% target.
United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka Long-Track Cost Profile
This is a high-depth World Bank RPW corridor (54 quarterly average-cost readings) - enough history to measure how concentrated the cost path has been, not just the latest quarter. Peak average cost on record was 4.6% in 2017Q3; the trough was 1.8% in 2022Q3. That 2.83pp peak-to-trough span is the multi-year envelope thin-history corridors cannot show.
Across the full 54-quarter panel, 29 readings (53.7% share) landed at or under the UN SDG 3% target. Population standard deviation of the average-cost series is 0.577pp - a moderate swing band. From 2024Q2 to 2025Q3, the average cost rose 0.00pp (2.7% → 2.7%).
Among the 11 outbound corridors tracked from United Arab Emirates, 0 currently post a lower average cost than this route and 11 post a higher one (this corridor sits at 2.7%). That peer-rank read is only honest once the sender book is deep enough - sparse zero-history routes skip it because sibling counts alone do not make a long RPW track record.
About United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka data
PlainRemit compares international money-transfer costs across tracked corridors so you can see which routes and providers charge the least before you send money abroad. This corridor's figures are computed directly from the World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW) quarterly survey, a mystery-shopping panel of actual transfer quotes for a standardized $200 transfer.
Average 2.70%; cheapest observed 0.25% via DirectRemit (NBD); 9 providers tracked across 54 RPW quarters; vintage 2026-08-10.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to send money from United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka?
Average 2.70% of the transfer amount (World Bank RPW, 2025Q3) - lower fleet tercile (below ~4.3%). Cheapest observed: 0.25% via DirectRemit (NBD).
What is the cheapest way to send money from United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka?
Lowest RPW survey quote: 0.25% (DirectRemit (NBD)). Panel is high-tercile with 9 providers tracked.
Is the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka corridor meeting the UN SDG cost target?
Yes: 2.7% is at or under the UN SDG 10.c 3% target and sits in the lower fleet cost tercile.
Where does United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka sit among tracked remittance corridors?
According to World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide average cost among 348 tracked corridors on PlainRemit, United Arab Emirates → Sri Lanka ranks #20 of 348 (cheapest = #1). Ordinal uses latest_avg_cost ASC matching /rankings/cheapest. See /methodology#corpus-placement.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.