Remittance inflow to Bangladesh shot down by 21.47% year-on-year to $1.59 billion in August.
The amount of funds sent by Bangladeshi migrant workers was $2.03 billion in the same month last year according to Bangladesh Bank data released on Sunday.
On a month-on-month basis, the remittance inflow slumped 19% in August from $1.97 billion in the previous month.
The last time the inflow was low was back in February, when Bangladesh received $1.56 billion in remittances, according to central bank data.
The Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association (Bafeda) and the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) recently adjusted the exchange rate of the US dollar at Tk109.50 for both the export proceeds and remittances.
As a result, remittances and export proceeds will be bought at the same price after almost a year.
In a meeting of the two organizations last week, the dollar rate for remittance was raised by Tk0.50 and export proceeds by Tk1.
Bankers said the remittance inflow has fallen in recent months mainly due to the huge gap between formal and informal exchange rates, meaning a portion of the remittance earnings comes to Bangladesh through illegal channels.
Banks now offer Tk109.50 per dollar for remitters while the exchange rate in the informal market is between Tk117 and Tk118 per dollar, they said.
As per the Bangladesh Bank, the country received $2.19 billion in remittances in June this year and in July last year, the amount was $2.09 billion.
