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The government has disbursed Tk 1,000 crore in cash incentive against remittance as part of its second phase disbursement for the October-December period under FY2021-22, and the Bangladesh Bank will release it through the banking channel as per regulations.
According to central bank sources, unpaid remittance incentive claims stood at Tk 500 crore till October 6 of the current fiscal year. But the figure will reach Tk1,400 crore if previous unpaid claims are factored into account.
Even after the latest disbursement of Tk 1,000 crore, Tk 400 crore in dues will still remain, insiders told The Business Post.
Last October, Bangladesh received $1,647 million in remittance, which was $1,872.49 million, $1,810.10 million and $1,726.29 million in July, August and September respectively.
From July to October this fiscal year, the country received nearly $7,056 million in remittance, which was $8,820 million in the same period previous FY. So, the inflow of remittance dropped by $1,764 million or 20 per cent when compared year-on-year for this period.
Previously, the government had released Tk 1,000 crore in cash incentive against remittance as part of its first phase disbursement for the July-September period of FY2021-22. Till date, Tk 2,000 crore has been disbursed for this particular purpose.
Bangladesh has been providing a 2 per cent incentive against remittance inflow through the legal channel since FY2019-20. This means, any Bangladeshi expatriate sending remittance through the banking channel will get Tk 2 as cash incentive for per Tk 100.
In a bid to further boost remittance inflow in FY2021-22, the government had increased the allocation for this incentive to Tk 4,000 crore in the current budget.
In the main budget for FY2020-21, the government had allocated Tk 3,060 crore for providing cash incentive against remittance, which was then increased to Tk 3,800 crore in the revised budget. This allocation was disbursed throughout the last FY in four phases.
