The inflow of remittances rose by 6.55% to $1.24 billion in October of the current fiscal yearFY19 compared to $1.16 billionbagged in the same month last year.
According to data by the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country received remittances worth $5.19 billion from July to October of the current fiscal year, which is 12.17% higher than the amount received in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Syed Mahbubur Rahman, president of the Association of Bankers’, Bangladesh and managing director and CEO of Dhaka Bank, said: “A lot of money usually comes in from abroad during an election year, as relatives of election candidates contribute to their election expenses.”
According to BB data, the country received remittances worth $14.98 billion in FY18, which was 17.31 % more than the amount received in FY17.
Remittance is a major source of foreign currency for Bangladesh and its drop since FY16 became a matter of concern for the government. In FY17, remittance inflow was the lowest – $12.77 billion – in six years.
A BB general manager said that the recovery of remittance is of great relief to the government at a time when the financial sector was facing an acute shortage in the foreign exchange reserve.
Regarding the rise in remittance inflow, Bangladesh Bank spokesman Sirajul Islam said: “Remittance has been steadily increasing again, since it has become difficult to bring money into the country illegally.”
He further added that banks are deploying representatives abroad to boost the flow of remittance through legal channels.
“At the same time, the central bank has strengthened the surveillance against hundi, an illegal cross-border fund transfer process,” Sirajul explained, adding that the monitoring process has boosted the inbound flow of remittance.
