Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Bangladeshis working abroad remitted over US$ 957 million in August this year thanks largely to the forthcoming Eid-ul Fitr festival, officials told BBN in Dhaka on Monday.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $957.93 million in August 2010, up by $100.62 million from the level of the previous month. In July last the remittances stood at $857.31 million.
“The flow of inward remittances increased significantly in August last due mainly to the ensuing Eid-ul Fitr, the biggest religious festival for the Muslims,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that the inflow of remittances may slightly fall this month. But it will pick up in October ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival, he added.
The August total took the remittance figure in the first two months of the current fiscal to $1.815 billion, registering a 0.29 per cent negative growth over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
“We expect that the overall growth of remittances will turn into positive in the month of September from the existing level,” another BB official said, adding that recovering world economy would help to increase the flow of remittances.
The country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at an all time high at $11.115 billion Monday, thanks to the robust growth of remittances from Bangladeshis working abroad, the BB officials confirmed.
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.
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.
“We’re still serious about increasing the inflow of remittances through official channels to meet our internal foreign exchange demand,” a senior official of a commercial bank said.
He also said some banks are trying to set up their own exchange houses or drawing arrangements with overseas companies in the different parts of the world aiming to expedite inflow of remittances.
BBN/SI/AD-06Sept10-6:32 pm (BST)
