The past three months have been extremely difficult for the Bangladesh economy, and the steady decline in remittance has been a major factor for that. To that end, it is indeed good news to see that for the month of October, Bangladesh received close to $2 billion in remittances, the highest in four months and a close to 50% increase compared to September.
The government here deserves recognition for recognizing one of the major issues for the reduction over the past three months and increasing incentives from 2.5% to 5% so that expat workers would use official channels to send their remittance.
The central bank asking some banks to offer higher remittance rates to boost inflows also shows just how important remittances continue to be for our economy, and what an increase in remittance inflow means for the overall health of the nation.
Moving forward, it is imperative that we continue to devise the appropriate measures and policies so that we do not face yet another downturn in remittance inflow. It should not have to be reactive measures that bring about positive change, rather, pro-active and well thought-out plans for keeping our remittance inflow positive is the need of the hour.
Bangladesh remains on course to achieve numerous milestones in the short term and long term, from LDC graduation, to fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals, to becoming a prosperous, innovative, and smart economy by 2041. Remittances will continue to play a major role in ensuring we are successful in achieving all of those goals.
