Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The flow of inward remittances fell by over 23 per cent in the month of September due to observance of Eid-ul Fitr festival, officials said on Monday.
"Most of the remittances were sent in August 2011 in preparation to celebrate the Eid festival. So the inflow of remittances decreased slightly in September last,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN, adding that the flow of inward remittances will pick up this month ahead of Eid-ul-Azha festival.
Bangladeshi nationals working abroad sent US$843.32 million in September, a fall of $258.47 million compared to the previous month. In August 2011, the remittance was $1101.79 million, according to the central bank statistics released on Monday.
The country received $2.96 billion as remittances during July-September period of the current fiscal, registering a 11.35 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $9.80 billion on Monday, thanks to the robust growth of remittances from Bangladeshis working abroad, the central bank officials added.
“Huge gap in US dollar rates in open market and official channel has also contributed to decline in the inflow of remittance in September last,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said.
He also said the inflow of remittances through the banking channel may be affected further in the near future if the upward trend in greenback rates continues in the open market.
The exchange rate of US dollar in the open market, popularly known as kerb market, has been higher by around BDT 3.0 for more than a month than what is offered by state-owned banks.
The greenback was sold between BDT 78.60 and BDT 78.70 in the open market on Monday while the buying rates were between BDT 78.40 and BDT 78.50, a currency trader said.
In the formal market, four state-owned commercial banks were selling the greenback at BDT 75.80 and buying it at BDT 74.80 on Monday, treasury official of a commercial bank said.
BBN/SSR/SI-03Oct11-9:30 pm (BST)