Business Report :
Bangladesh’s remittance inflow witnessed a 30 per cent year-on-year to $2.47 billion in July, the first month of the current financial year of 2025-26.
In the same month of the previous fiscal, migrant Bangladeshis sent home $1.91 billion, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data published on Sunday.
However, the remittance figure in July FY26 was 12.22 per cent lower than the previous month, as remitters sent more money to their families in June due to Eid-ul-Azha.
Sector insiders said the surge in remittance inflow in recent months is being credited to a combination of factors, such as a narrowing gap between official and informal exchange rates, a clampdown on money laundering, and a renewed sense of patriotism among Bangladeshis living abroad after the political changeover in August last year.
They also said hundi, an illegal cross-border transaction system, declined – likely due to the political transition – leading to more remittance inflows being directed through official channels.
The narrowing of the gap between official and unofficial exchange rates has driven the up-ward trend in recent months.
The gap between the dollar rates in formal and informal channels – down to nearly Tk1 due to a rise in the official dollar rate – has incentivized remitters to use legal avenues.
Political changeover in August 2024, demand for informal hundi decreased remarkably as the politically linked money launderers went into hiding, they added.
Earlier, in the Just concluded fiscal Bangladesh reached a historic milestone with remittance inflows surpassing US$30 billion, breaking all previous records.
Expatriate Bangladeshis sent a record $30.33 billion in remittances in FY25, marking the highest amount ever received in a single fiscal year in the country’s history.
This figure reflects a 26.80 per cent increase compared to the $23.91 billion received in the previous fiscal year (FY24).
This surpasses the earlier record of $24.77 billion sent in FY2020-21 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when remittances spiked due to restrictions on informal hundi channels and the introduction of incentive bonds.
