Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The flow of inward remittances jumped by nearly 15 per cent in November last after showing a downward trend in the previous month because of the celebration of Eid-ul-Azha festival, officials said.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.17 billion in November 2014, up by $14.70 per cent from the level of the previous month. In October last, the remittance stood at $1.02 billion, according to the central bank statistics, released on Tuesday.
“We expect that the rising trend of inward remittance may continue in the coming months,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the depreciating trend of local currency against the US dollar recently has contributed to raise the inflow of remittances.
The flow of inward remittances grew by 11.42 per cent to $6.20 billion during the July-November period of the fiscal year 2014-15 against $ 5.56 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, the BB data showed.
Currently, 30 exchange houses are operating across the globe and have set up 1062 drawing arrangements abroad to expedite the remittance inflow.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel, instead of the illegal “hundi” system to help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserve.
Four state-run commercial banks and dozens of private commercial banks have stepped up efforts to increase remittance flow from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.
“Most of banks are now trying to establish new contacts with overseas exchange houses so that the migrant workers can find it easy to send money back home,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said.
BBN/SSR/AD-02Dec14-8:57 (BST)
