Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladeshis working abroad remitted over US$1.0 billion in March this year--- the highest monthly inflow in history following crisis in the Middle East countries, officials said on Monday.
“Panicky situation in different Middle East countries has pushed the flow of inward remittance in March 2011,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the upward trend of inflow of remittance may continue this month but it would fall in future if the existing Middle East crisis lingers.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.090 billion in March, up by $103.52 million from the previous month. In February 2011, the remittance was $986.97 million, according to the central bank statistics released on Monday.
"The remittance amount in March is a new record after nearly one-and-half-year,” another BB official said, adding that $1.050 billion was remitted in the month of November 2009.
The country received $8.598 billion during the July-March period of fiscal 2010-11, registering a 3.97 per cent growth over the same period of the previous fiscal, the BB’s data showed.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard earned money through formal banking channel instead of the illegal “hundi” system to boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Currently, some private commercial banks along with the state-owned commercial banks are desperately trying to increase the flow of inward remittances from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.
“We’re establishing new contacts with overseas exchange houses so that our overseas workers can find it easy to send money back home,” a senior official of a leading commercial bank said, adding that some banks are trying to set up their own exchange houses in different parts of the world.
The country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $10.745 billion on Monday, despite nominal growth of remittance from Bangladeshis working abroad, the BB officials added.
BBN/SSR/AD-04Apr11-8:16 pm (BST)
