Expatriate Bangladeshis have sent $1.45 billion in remittance in the month of February 2020, up by 10.25% than the corresponding month of the previous year.
Remittance inflow increased by 20.06% to $12.49 billion in July-February period of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period of last fiscal year, according to data of Bangladesh Bank released on Sunday.
Bankers said favorable exchange rate of taka against the dollar and a strong stance taken by the central bank to fight illegal money transfers had a positive impact on the increasing trend of remittance
On Sunday, the inter-bank exchange rate stood at Tk84.95, up from Tk84.15 a year earlier, according to the central bank data.
The central bank has attributed the sharp rise in remittance to the government’s 2% cash incentive introduced in the current fiscal year.
“The flow of remittance into the country has shown an upward trend in the fiscal 2019-20 as the government has taken measures, including two percent cash incentive, to encourage legal channel for encouraging non-resident Bangladeshis to send money to their home country,” said the central bank’s spokesperson Md Serajul Islam.
He said the recent flow of remittance indicated that it was gradually increasing and this trend was likely to continue in the upcoming months.
In the current budget, the government offered a 2% incentive on money remitted through banks by Bangladeshi diasporas.