The country’s remittance inflow stood at a record high of $16.41 billion in fiscal (FY) 2018-19, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB). This inflow increased by about 9.5 percent in FY19 from $14.98 billion in the previous fiscal. BB spokesperson and executive director Md Serajul Islam told Bangladesh Post that the increase in remittance inflow to the country in recent times is a good signal for the economy.
He said various time befiting initiatives taken up by the government have resulted in a increased awareness among expatriate workers to send their hard-earned money through legal channels, pushing up the remittance inflow. Besides, strong dollar rate against Taka also helped to increase remittance inflow, he added.
Islam expected this flow will increase further as the government has given a special budgetary allocation for fiscal 2019-20. The local currency (Tk) has depreciated by Tk 0.75 to Tk 84.50 on Sunday over the same period in the previous year. In the budget speech, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has already proposed keeping aside Tk 30.6 billion in the national budget for the fiscal 2019-2020, aiming at facilitating the expatriates who would choose formal channels to remit money.
Expats will get 2 percent cash incentive on their remitted amount. However, Bangladeshi expatriates sent home $11.65 billion in FY11, $12.84 billion in FY12, $14.46 billion in FY13, $14.23 billion in FY14, $15.31 billion in FY15, $14.93 billion in FY16, $12.77 billion in FY17 and $14.98 billion in FY18 respectively. Earlier, the government and Bangladesh Bank (BB) were worried over a sliding trend in remittance inflow during fiscal years 2015-17. However, the country has made a strong comeback in recent times, thanks to some good steps taken by the government, BB officials said.
Md Adel Haque, former joint director of the central bank, told Bangladesh Post, “Bangladesh’s economy is witnessing a sound growth with the constant rise in remittance earnings because of various effective initiatives of the government.” The expatriate workers have still faced many difficulties to go abroad, but don’t get solution as quickly as other countries do for their workers, he mentioned.
He added, Bangladeshis working abroad have to go through various problems due to lack of proficiency in foreign languages, few vocation-specific skills and poor basic formal education, putting them at risk of losing jobs. Hence, the government should take more steps to solve problems they face, which will help to raise remittance inflow further, Haque said.
Economist and former BB governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said, “Bangladeshi expatriates are sending more money through the formal channel to fulfill their families’ needs' which helped the remittance inflow go up.” “In order to boost remittance inflow further, the government should focus on addressing some problems which faced our expatriate abroad,” he said. Ahmed said “We need to create skilled manpower for jobs abroad side by side tapping new job markets like in the European region to rise remittance inflow further.