The country saw 14% fall in November remittance inflow from the previous month, showed Bangladesh Bank data.
During the month, the wage earners in abroad sent a total of $1.05bn home. In October, the figure was $1.23bn.
According to the central bank officials, the drop in remittance was due to aggravating political unrest currently sweeping through the country.
“Issues like political turmoil and weak dollar are discouraging expatriates to send money home now,” said a high official of Bangladesh Bank.
Of the remittance received during the month of November, the four state-owned commercial banks channelled $339.56m compared to $382m in October.
Private commercial banks remitted $686m in November compared to October’s $825m while foreign commercial banks helped $12.93m channelling compared to $15m in October.
The state-owned specialised banks remitted $12.25m while the figure was $12.55m a month earlier.
In first four months of the current fiscal year, the total remittance dropped to $4.50bn from $5bn one year before.
A World Bank report described Bangladesh as the 7th most remittance earning country in 2012.
Remittance has been growing at double digits since 1980s and currently accounts for nearly 11% of GDP.
As policy steps to boost remittance inflow, separate savings instruments have been created for non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs).
The instruments include, among others, non-resident foreign currency deposits, US dollar premium bonds and wage-earners’ development bonds, said Bangladesh Bank.
Smart cards or mobile phone banking services were also introduced to facilitate remittance channelling.
Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves have exceeded $16bn recently though remittance inflow has been slow since first month of the current fiscal year.
