Remittances hit $2b in July

Bangladesh received more than $2 billion in remittances in July, marking a 12 percent year-on-year growth.

The remittance inflow is 14.13 percent higher than the month of June and the highest in 14 months, according to the latest data from the Bangladesh Bank.

BB officials attributed the upward curve of the remittance inflow to various policy supports, including offering incentives.

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, they said.

BB in May of this year relaxed the requirement for availing 2.5 percent cash incentive for inward remittances over US$5,000 or Taka 5 lakh.

From now, non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) and migrant workers will not require presenting documents while sending over $5,000, or Taka 500,000 in remittance, in order to qualify for the incentive given by the government, as per the BB notice.

Earlier remitters needed to submit remittance related documents.

The remittance inflow dropped 15.11 percent in the just concluding fiscal year amid the forex crisis.

The remittance inflow declined in the last fiscal year as the spread between the official and the kerb market exchange rates encouraged Bangladeshi expatriates to send money back home through hundi, an illegal cross-border transaction after the Covid-19 pandemic, said people familiar with the situation. 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.