Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The flow of inward remittance jumped by more than 32 per cent in January following the depreciating mode of the local currency against dollar, officials said.
The money sent home by Bangladeshis working abroad amounted to $1.59 billion in January 2019, up by more than $387 million from the December level, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) latest statistics.
Remittance stood at $1.20 billion last December. It was $1.38 billion in January 2018.
However, remittance inflow grew by 9.26 per cent to $9.08 billion during the first seven months of this fiscal year compared with $8.31 billion in the same period of last fiscal.
Talking to the BBN, a senior executive of a leading private commercial bank said the depreciating mode of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against US dollar and BB’s surveillance to check ‘hundi’ helped raise remittance inflows in the recent months.
The exchange rate of taka depreciated significantly against dollar last year mainly due to a higher demand for the greenback for settling import bills.
The local currency depreciated by BDT 1.05 to BDT 83.95 on Sunday in the inter-bank foreign exchange market from BDT 82.90 a year before.
The recent flow of remittance indicates that it is gradually increasing and this trend is likely to continue in the upcoming months, according to a BB senior official.
He also said the central bank as well as the government is working continuously to expedite remittance inflows from different parts of the world.
Currently, 29 exchange houses are operating globally with around 1,225 drawing arrangements set up abroad to boost remittance inflow.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took multiple measures to encourage expatriate workers to send home their hard-earned money through formal banking channel to help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserve.
BBN/SSR/AD
