Bangladesh receives $1.05b in remittances in 1st 12 days of April
Business Report:
Bangladesh received remittances amounting to US$1.05 billion in the first 12 days of April in the fiscal 2024-25.
Of this, remittances through state-owned and specialised banks accounted for $459.72 million, while private banks received $590.34 million, according to a report released by the Bangladesh Bank here on Tuesday.
This amount reflects a daily average remittance of $87.69 million sent by expatriates during the period.
Earlier, Bangladesh received a record $3.29 billion as remittances in March, making it the highest remittance inflow for a single month in the country’s history, surpassing the previous record of $2.64 billion in December last year.
According to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, Bangladeshi citizens working abroad sent remittances equivalent to $3.29 billion in March, a nearly 65 per cent jump from the $1.99 billion that came in the same month a year earlier.
According to bankers, the remittance inflow shot up in March due to expatriates sending more money to their families marking the holy month of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr. Additionally, they attributed the reduced reliance on informal hundi channels as a factor.
In February this year, the country received $2.53 billion in remittances, which made it the then fourth-highest monthly remittance on record.
Moreover, the inflow of remittances during the July-March period of the current fiscal year grew by more than 27 per cent to $21.78 billion from $17.07 billion in the same period of FY24.
The official also noted that remittances have averaged around $2.5 billion per month since last August, and if the trend continues, the annual total could reach $30 billion. According to Bangladesh Bank data, as of today, the country’s gross foreign exchange reserves stood at $25.62 billion. Between July 2024 and March 2025, Bangladesh received $21.77 billion in remittances, up from $17.07 billion during the same period last fiscal year, according to central bank data.