Home ›› 21 Jan 2022 ›› Front
The Bangladesh Bank on Thursday made five more earning sources of overseas employees eligible for cash incentives against remittance, such as retirement benefits.
In a circular, the regulator stated that the five additional earning sources are – pension fund, provident fund, leave salary, bonus and other gratuities paid by employers. Thursday’s central bank circular also asked banks to confirm the authenticity of remitters’ sources of income based on evidence, and convert the foreign currency into local currency Taka before disbursement.
Overseas wage earners are currently receiving cash incentives against remittance at a rate of 2.5 per cent.
Prior to a revision of the incentive amount on January 1, 2022, the remitters were receiving the incentive at the rate of 2 per cent from the beginning of the Fiscal Year 2020-21. Under the existing rules, banks can give cash incentives against remittance of $1,500 without verifying any document.
If the amount exceeds $1,500, the banks are supposed to seek a copy of the remitter’s passport, appointment letter from the employer or certification of BMET and a copy of business licence for businessperson. Remittance has been one of the major economic lifelines for Bangladesh as the country’s import is far higher than its export earnings.
Riding on record remittance inflow and a drastic decline in import payments after the outbreak of Covid-19, the country’s foreign currency reserves had reached $48 billion in August 2021.
The reserves, however, contracted afterwards by more than $3.5 billion amid an increase in import payments, coupled with a gradual decline in remittance inflow in the first half of the current fiscal year 2021-2022.
