Bangladesh Bank has withdrawn the provision of mandatory submission of documents for getting incentive against inward remittance of $5000 or Tk50,0000 and upward, in a move to encourage greater inflow of remittance.
Kazi Rafiqul Hassan, general manager of the foreign exchange department issued a circular on Monday withdrawing the document submission obligation for an indefinite period.
As a result, the remitters will get a 2.5% instant incentive for any amount of remittance sent in the formal channel, without submitting documents to the foreign exchange houses abroad.
The Bangladesh Bank asked all the scheduled banks to execute the decision from Monday.
In the current fiscal year, Bangladesh so far received $18.62 billion in remittances.
In the last FY 21, Bangladesh received $24.77 billion in remittances, so far the record high in a fiscal year.
The sector insiders said the inward remittance flow has decreased as the hundi and other illegal channels became active after withdrawing the pandemic-induced travel ban.
The government encourages the increased flow of remittance in the legal format as demand for foreign currency has grown due to meet import payments.
Bangladesh is witnessing an increasing import of capital machinery, industrial raw materials, LPG-fuel oil and commodities swelling the import payments.
Besides, the deferred payment of LCs done during the severe pandemic is scheduled for payment now.
According to the Bangladesh Bank, over $68 billion worth of LCs opened in the first 9 months of current FY 2021-22.
