Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladeshis working abroad sent home US$ 1.315 billion in the first month of the calendar year, marking a 2.12 per cent growth over the previous month, officials said on Monday.
The country received $8.716 billion during the July-January period of the fiscal year (FY) 2012-13, registering a nearly 20 per cent growth over the same period in the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
“We expect that the flow of inward remittance will increase further in the near future as the overseas exchange houses are functioning properly,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
Currently, 26 exchange houses are operating across the world and have set up 925 drawing arrangements abroad to expedite the remittance inflow.
The country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $13.105 billion on Monday due to the robust growth of remittances, according to the BB officials.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through formal banking channels instead of the illegal ‘hundi’ system to boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Besides, higher manpower exports have also helped increase the inflow of remittances during the period under review, another BB official said, adding that the government had taken various measures to expedite the manpower exports to different countries across the world.
More than 36,600 job seekers went abroad in the month of January 2013, up from 4,264 workers in the previous month of the last calendar year, according to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) statistics.
Currently, most 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.
BBN/SSR/AD-04Feb13-9:15 pm (BST)
