Bangladesh received $2.03b remittance in August

Bangladesh received $2.03 billion in remittance in August — raising hopes amidst a forex crisis.

In July, the first month of FY 2022-23, migrant workers sent home $2.09 billion in remittance, said a Bangladesh Bank report.

The inward remittance flow was $1.87 billion in July and $1.81 billion in August in FY 2021-22.

Bangladesh received a $21.03 billion remittance in FY 22, showing a 15 per cent fall from $24.77 billion inward remittance in FY 21. The remittance flow in the first two months of the current fiscal year is providing a glimmer of hope for forex reserve — crucial to meet the growing import demands.

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Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said that the central bank has simplified various processes to attract more remittances through banking channels.

The government is also extending remittance incentives as well as providing policy support. Now the dollar rate is getting higher, he said.

The sector insiders said that Bangladesh’s inward remittance flow will grow more as manpower export hit a new high in the past fiscal thanks to the post-pandemic rebound of the overseas job market.

The data of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) showed over 9.88 lakh workers had gone abroad in FY 22 while this figure was 2.71 lakh in FY 21.

This happens to be the highest number of annual overseas jobs in the last seven years.

Officials hope the outflow of workers would increase in the current fiscal year as Malaysia is going to restart hiring manpower from the country, following a negotiated deal.

The statistics showed that a low number of 2,71,445 workers found jobs in FY 21 during the peak pandemic while 498,983 in FY 20,659,044 in FY 19,866,417 in FY 18,893,736 in FY 17, and 6,72,721 in FY 16.