Remittance earning up 8.49% in March

Bangladesh’s remittance earnings rose by 8.49 per cent year on year to $2.01 billion in March during Ramadan and ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest festivals of the country’s Muslim community.

The remittance earned in February was $1.56 billion, as per the latest data from the Bangladesh Bank.

During July to March of this fiscal year, Bangladeshi expatriates sent at $16.03 billion, up from $15.29 billion sent during the same period of previous fiscal year.

Industry insiders said remittance earnings have been going up since the beginning of March mainly due to the start of the fasting month of Ramadan and the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.

Every year, migrants send more money to their relatives ahead of the Eid festivals, they added.

A senior official of the central bank also said that Bangladesh’s remittance inflow usually increases during the two Eids.

During March, the country received the highest $456 million remittance through Islami Bank Bangladesh, while $156 million came through the City Bank and $122 million through Pubali Bank, as per the BB data.

After August of FY23, remittance earnings did not reach the $2 billion mark till March this year.

The figure was at $2.03 billion back in August, but came below the $1 billion mark until February of this FY.

Remittance inflow increased by 4.46 per cent year-on-year to $1.56 billion in February.

The inflow will grow further in the coming days as banks and the banking regulator have recently taken various measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send their money through the banking channel.

Experts, however, point out that the remittance inflow is not increasing in proportion to the amount of manpower exported after the easing of Covid-19 pandemic. Money laundering and high immigration costs are the key reasons behind this issue, they added.

Bangladesh exported a large amount of manpower since 2021, but no positive impact is seen in the remittance inflow, said Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

He added that the trend of money laundering in Bangladesh is very high, so remittance inflow is not reaching the expected level.

Bangladesh’s manpower exports reached 6.17 lakh in 2021, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

The country exported 11.35 lakh people in 2022, which is a record high for the country. The figure was 1.04 lakh in January this year.