Remittances witnessed a rapid growth to stand at around $5.14 billion in two and half months in the current fiscal 2022-23, up about 13.20 percent over that in the same period of previous fiscal.
In the same period of the previous fiscal, the figure was $4.54 billion, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
However, remittances stood at $2.04 billion in August in the current fiscal 2022-23, up 12.60 percent over that in the same period of previous fiscal amounting to $1.81 billion.
Bangladesh fetched record $2.10 billion remittances in July, the first month of the 2022-23 fiscal year, due to Eid-ul-Azha festival when expatriate Bangladeshis usually send more money home than at other times.
The figure is the highest in 14 months and 12 percent higher than the $1.87 billion remittance the country received in the same month of the previous FY.
Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said, “Remittances have increased due to expatriates are getting higher dollar rate of Tk 108. This positive trend will continue in the coming days. Like the last two months (July-August), we expect remittances of more than 2 billion dollars to come in the month of September.”
“Since the beginning of the current financial year, the positive trend of remittances has been observed. We hope that this trend will continue in the remaining 10 months of the year,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, the interbank currency market sold dollars at Tk 105.50 on Monday. The banks bought dollars from Bangladesh Bank at this rate. However, due to huge demand for dollars, banks have collected dollars from expatriates at the rate of up to Tk 108.
According to that, if an expatriate sends 1 dollar to the country through a banking channel, he or she gets Tk 108 with a cash incentive of Tk 2.50.
Dollar rate is almost the same in the curb market or open market. That is why, expatriates now are not taking risks through illegal hundi and they are sending money through banks instead of other means, bankers said.
Due to the high demand for dollars in the market, banks are providing more cash incentives to bring in remittances to the country which pushed the remittances up, a banker said.
However, Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated in the country on May 3. Expatriates sent a total of $2.09 billion remittance to the country in April ahead of Eid. It was the highest amount in a single month of the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the country received $22.07 billion in remittances in 2021, which was more than that in any other year in the history of Bangladesh. This inflow was $21.78 billion in 2020 and $18.33 billion in 2019.
This important index of the economy increased last December and January after a decline for five consecutive months (July-November 2021). In December and January, remittance was $1.63 billion and $1.70 billion respectively.
In February, this inflow dropped again as expatriates sent $1.49 billion during the time.
On the other hand, the country’s migrants sent home $1.86 billion in March ahead of Ramadan this year, which is 25 percent more than that in the previous month and also the highest in the past eight months.