Remittance hits $2b after 10 months

Remittance inflows reached the $2 billion mark in April after 10 months as expatriates sent more money to their families for celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr.

According to the Bangladesh Bank latest data, the amount in April was the highest since June 2021 when it was $1.94 billion. In May 2021, Bangladesh received $2.17 billion in remittances.

Meanwhile, remittance earnings in the July-April period of the current financial year stood at $17.3 billion. In FY21, expatriates sent $24.77 billion.

“Expatriates remitted more money so that their family members can celebrate Eid with joy. It is a common trend. That is why we have received a healthy amount of remittance in April,” Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Md Serajul Islam told The Business Post.

“On the other hand, economies around the globe are re-opening and turning around from the Covid-19 pandemic fallout, enabling expatriates to earn and remit more. This trend will continue in the months to come.”

Bangladesh received a record $1.86 billion in remittances in March, registering a 25 per cent growth from $1.49 billion in February, following a lacklustre growth in the last financial year.

Excluding the pandemic-driven situation, the amount of remittance that Bangladesh usually earns in normal times is more than the amount accrued in nine months of the current financial year.

The depreciation of taka against the US dollar and several government measures, including incentives for sending remittances and strong surveillance of illegal inflow of money, played a big role in encouraging migrants to send home more money in recent times than they did in the past, according to analysts.

Bangladesh is the eighth largest remittance-receiving country and the sixth largest migrant-sending country globally, according to the World Migration Report 2022.

Money sent by non-resident Bangladeshis makes up about six per cent of the country’s GDP, representing the second-largest source of foreign earnings.

According to the World Migration Report, 7.4 million Bangladeshi migrants were living abroad in 2020.

Despite living abroad, the Bangladeshi diaspora has continued to play a key role in the country’s development.