Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The flow of inward remittance increased significantly in the first three weeks of this month ahead of the Eid-ul Fitr, officials said.
Bangladesh received $ 968.64 million as remittances between June 1 and June 19 from Bangladeshi nationals who are working abroad, according to the central bank’s latest statistics, released on Thursday.
“We expect that the inflow of remittances may touch nearly $1.40 billion by the end of this month ahead of the Eid-ul Fitr, the biggest religious festival for the Muslims,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at US$1.32 billion in May 2015, up by $21.40 million from the level of the previous month. In April last, the remittances stood at $1.30 billion. It was $1.21 billion in May, 2014.
Bangladesh received $13.87 billion remittance during the July-May period of the current fiscal year (FY) 2014-15, registering a 7.21 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the last fiscal, the BB latest data showed.
The BB official also said the central bank is working continuously to expedite the flow of inward remittance from different parts of the world.
Currently, 35 exchange houses operating across the globe have set up 1,076 drawing arrangements abroad to expedite the remittance inflow, according to the central banker.
The BB earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel instead of illegal ‘hundi’ system to help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserve.
Most of the private commercial banks along with the state-owned 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.
Talking to BBN, a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said most of the banks are establishing new contacts with overseas exchange houses so that the migrant workers can easily send home money.
BBN/SSR/AD
