Remittance flow to rise 18pc in the outgoing yr

FT ONLINE

The flow of inward remittance is set to jump more than 18 percent or US$2.80 billion in the outgoing calendar year 2019 as the government has provided an incentive to the beneficiaries against inward remittance.

Depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar has also jacked the inflow of remittances up in recent months, bankers said.

The inflow of remittance is set to reach a minimum of $18.34 billion by the end of December 2019 from $15.54 billion a year ago despite a falling trend in the outbound jobs of Bangladeshis, according to the central bank's estimation.

The country received $1.40 billion as remittances between December 01 and December 24 from Bangladeshi nationals who are working abroad, an executive director of the BB said on Friday.

"We expect that the inflow of remittances may cross $1.70 billion by the end of this month" the central banker explained.

Bangladesh received $16.64 billion in 11 months to November as remittances.

The BB executive director also hoped that the upward trend of inward remittance would continue in the coming months as the government has announced a 2.0 percent incentive for remittance receipts.

The government had already allocated Tk 30.60 billion as an incentive in the budget for the current fiscal (FY), 2019-20, to encourage the expatriate workers to send their money through legal channels.

"We expect that the flow of inward remittance may cross $20 billion marks by the end of this fiscal year," the central banker added.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), urged the central bank to strengthen monitoring and supervision to avoid possible misuse of such incentives as well as the unwanted situation.

Mr. Rahman, also managing director and chief executive officer of Mutual Trust Bank Limited, said depreciating mode of the local currency against the US currency has also helped to increase the flow of inward remittance during the period under review.

The exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated significantly against the US dollar in the recent months mainly due to higher demand for the greenback for settling the import bills.

Meanwhile, the local currency depreciated by Tk 1.0 against the greenback in the inter-bank forex market from January 02 to December 19.

The greenback was quoted at Tk 84.90 each in the inter-bank market on December 19 against Tk 83.90 on January 02. On December 19, the local currency lost its value by two poisha against the US currency.

Earlier on December 18, the local currency appreciated by two poishas against the greenback after nearly three years in the inter-bank forex market.

On the other hand, the number of overseas employments has registered a falling trend in recent months following slow demand for workers in Middle East countries, according to insiders.

Some 604,060 workers found jobs in the 11 months to November 2019 against the number of outflow workers was 684,962 in the same period of the last calendar year, according to the official figures.

Some important destinations including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Bahrain remained closed for Bangladeshi workers for long days, they explained.

More than 12 million Bangladeshis went abroad since 1976, the official data showed.