Remittance inflow rebounds in August, likely to continue rising

The inflow of remittances has rebounded in August as the country received US$1,418.58 million in the month, which is the highest after June 2016.

“Generally, expatriate Bangladeshis send huge remittance ahead of any festival. Though the flow of remittance has increased for the holy Eid-ul-Azha, it is likely to continue throughout the current fiscal,” Bangladesh Bank (BB’s) Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan told BSS.

He said the overall situation has improved as BB has taken some measures to streamline the legal channel for encouraging Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) to send home money.

As part of its move to plug the informal channels, he said, the central bank has already put some mobile banking operators under close supervision as it has identified some mobile accounts used for sending home remittances illegally.

There was a falling trend in the inflow of remittances since fiscal year 2014-15 but the situation witnessed a change at the beginning of fiscal year 2017-18 as the expatriates sent home US$1,418.58 million in August, up by $234.97 million from the corresponding month in the previous fiscal 2016-17 (FY17), according to the BB data.

Migrant workers sent $ 1,115.57 million in July, which was $110.06 million up from the corresponding month in the previous fiscal.

According to BB, the country received a total of $15,316.91 million in FY15, $14,931.15 million in FY16 and $12,769 million in FY17.

“The recent flow of remittance indicates that it is gradually increasing and this trend is likely to continue throughout FY 18. BB is trying to create awareness among the expatriates to send remittances through proper channels,” said Hassan.

Inflow of remittance witnessed a record fall in February of FY17 as migrant workers sent home only $940.75 million.

Razee Hassan said BB sent letters to the Bangladesh missions aboard for taking steps to close illegal bKash or Rocket agents to stop sending home money by migrant workers.

Earlier, two investigation teams visited Malaysia in March to find out the reasons behind the downward trend in country’s remittance inflow.

During the visit, the members of the teams found that NRBs were using informal channels for sending their money home due to various reasons, including easy procedures and no procedural costs.

Source: BSS