Remittance soars 16.3pc to $1.17bn in 16 days

Inward remittance has continued the rising trend in the current fiscal year starting from July 1, which may help overcome acute foreign exchange crisis in the country.

Inward remittance grew 16.30 percent year-on-year to $1,171 million or Tk 111.24 billion (Tk 95 per US Dollar) in the first 16 days of August, according to latest Bangladesh Bank data.

During the same time one year ago, Bangladesh received $1,007 million remittance from the expatriates and its citizens working abroad.

In July, remitters sent home a total of $2096.9 million, which was 12 percent higher than that received a year earlier.

So far in one and a half months in the current fiscal year, total foreign remittance inflow stood at $3.27 billion. If converted to Bangladeshi currency, it will stand at Tk 310.46 billion.

The central bank officials are upbeat about the current trend of remittance inflow and hoped that the amount of remittance may finally surpass $2.5 billion at the end of August if the current trend continues.

“The rising trend in remittance flow continued in the month of August as well like that in July. We’re not encouring banks in different ways so that remitters are encouraged to send home remittance through the banking channel,” central bank spokesperson Md Sirajul Islam said. 

Bangladesh Bank data suggest that in 1.5 months of 2022-23 fiscal year, the country’s foreign remittance receipt was 13.50 percent higher than $2.88 billion receipt in the first one and a half months of 2021-22 fiscal year.

Bangladesh economy is now under tremendous pressure because of dollar crisis stemming from unexpectedly higher imports compared to exports even though the exports are showing a rising trend as well.

Once a very healthy foreign exchange reserve has now come down below $40 billion as the central bank has to sell US dollar to stabilise the acute dollar crisis in the market.

Remittance inflow fell by 15 percent to $21.03 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year FY22 from $24.77 billion in FY21 although the government increased cash incentive on remittance to 2.5 percent from 2 percent from January this calendar year.