Remittance inflow drops by 7.4pc in October

Staff Reporter :
The remittance inflow, sent by the expatriate Bangladeshis to home, has declined by 7.4 per cent from a year ago and the country received $1.52 billion as remittance in October this year. Besides, one per cent also dropped even from September this year too.
However, the expatriate Bangladeshis had sent $1.64 billion as remittance in October last year.
According to a data released by the Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday it showed that the country received $1.53 billion remittance in September this year.
In the first two months of the current financial year, July and August, remittances sent by expatriates reached an average of $2 billion.
However, the remittance inflow in September saw a massive decline after Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) set different dollar exchange rates for remittance and export proceeds.
According to the BB data, workers’ remittances are received from the Bangladeshi nationals working abroad decreased by US$ 497.42 million (24.42%) in September ’22 from US$ 2036.93 million in August ’22.
While, workers’ remittance in September’22 is recorded US$ 1539.51 million. During July’22-September ’22 workers’ remittances increased by US$ 264.46 million (4.89%) compared to that of the same period of the last year, BB data shows.
Remittance declined further in October, intensifying the pressure on the government to manage its macro-economy amid plummeting foreign exchange reserves.
According to BB officials, the inflow has been facing a downward trend since August, bringing adversity to the country’s economic stability as a whole.
Remittances also decreased by 2.03 per cent year-on-year to $7.19 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal year.
The central bank officials said that if the declining trend of remittance continues in the days ahead, the ongoing volatility in the foreign exchange market will deepen. The country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $35.85 billion on October 26 in contrast to $46.49 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The banking regulator should motivate banks to mobilise more remittances with a view to easing the ongoing stress on the foreign exchange market.
The lower inflow of remittances also played a vital role in depreciating the local currency, which stood at Tk 104.34 on October 31, down 22 per cent year-on-year.