Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The flow of inward remittances fell by nearly 15 per cent in November last over the previous month, following the celebration of Eid-ul-Azha festival.

The Bangladesh nationals working abroad sent US$ 1.05 billion in November 2013. The amount was lower by $179.58 million than the level of remittance receipts in the previous month. In October last, the remittance inflows stood at $1.23 billion, according to the central bank statistics.

"Most of the remitted money came in the month of October from the expatriates to their families to facilitate the celebration of the Eid festival. The inflow of remittance receipts decreased in November,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) explained.

Bangladesh received a total of $5.55 billion during the July-November period of the fiscal year (FY) 2013-14, sustaining a negative growth of 9.20 per cent over the corresponding period in   the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.

The BB earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through formal banking channel, instead of the illegal ‘hundi’ system, to help boost the country's foreign exchange reserves.

On the other hand, most of the private commercial banks along with the state-owned ones are trying desperately to increase the flow of inward remittances from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.

"We're working continuously to increase the inflow of remittances from different parts of the world through establishing new contacts with overseas companies," a senior official at a leading private commercial bank said.

He also said most of the banks were still serious about increasing the inflow of remittances through official channels to meet their internal foreign exchange demand.

BBN/SSR/AD-04Dec13-12:52 pm (BST)