Remittance inflow showing upward trend in Nov
Staff Reporter :
Remittance inflows in the first half of November have exhibited an upward trend, providing a glimmer of hope for alleviating the rapid depletion of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Expatriate Bangladeshis have sent home $1.19 billion in remittances during the first 17 days of November, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
This marks an improvement compared to the same period last year when remittance inflow was $1.59 billion in November.
It is anticipated that the total remittance for November is likely to surpass October’s figures, thanks to the new incentives.
In October, Bangladesh received $1.98 billion in inward remittances , the highest in four months due to increase in dollar rate and increase in incentives.
Expatriates sent $643 million more in remittances in October compared to September, reflecting a growth rate of 48.20 percent.
Remittances had hit a low of $1.33 billion in September, the lowest in the last 41 months.
Despite the positive trend, the country needs more to achieve Bangladesh Bank’s monthly remittance goal of $2 billion.
The central bank data showed, in the first 17 days of November $78.52 million remittance came through state-owned banks, $35.17 through specialized banks, $1,070.41 million via private banks, and $3.60 million through foreign banks.
Bankers believe that the strong dollar exchange rate and the newly offered incentives decision encouraged the expatriates to avoid the illegal channels for remittance transfer.
In the first four months (July-October) of the current FY24, $6.88 billion remittances came through the banking channel.
Meanwhile, country’s foreign exchange reserve has been falling for more than a year due to higher import payments and lower than expected export earnings and remittance inflows.
According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) formula, Bangladesh’s official foreign-exchange reserves have plummeted by more than 5.0 per cent to $19.6 billion in just two weeks since November 1.
