Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Remittances by the Bangladeshi expatriates stood at $1.553 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal, marking a 49.67 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Bangladesh received $1.553 billion during the July-August period of the current fiscal against $1.038 billion million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics, released on Wednesday.

The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $732.98 million in August this year while in July the remittances were worth $820.71 million, the BB’s data showed.

“We expect that the flow of inward remittances would increase in this month ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told BBN in Dhaka.

The country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $5.30 billion on Wednesday after making a routine payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) Tuesday.

Bangladesh made a routine payment of $582 million to the ACU against imports for July-August period of the current year on the day.

The payment pushed down the foreign exchange reserve to $5.32 billion on Tuesday from $5.96 billion on the previous day, according to the BB officials.

BBN/SI/SI/AD-03Septmber08:11:42 PM