Expatriates sent a record remittance of $2.60 billion from different foreign countries in July. This is the highest monthly remittance received in the country’s history helping to push foreign currency reserve to $37.287 billion.
Market analysts said, “Expatriates have broken all previous records by sending the amount of money at home. The remittance inflow was more than expected. Experts from home and abroad feared to get less remittance in July due to corona pandemic.”
Bangladeshi expatriates usually send majority of their earnings on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha every year for buying sacrificial animals as well as meeting daily expenses of their families.
Experts also said, “This is a good news that Bangladeshi expatriates are still sending remittances though millions of workers are toiling abroad amid insufferable conditions due to the fall in oil prices, coronavirus pandemic and other predicaments.”
Expatriates are virtually providing oxygen to our economy, they added.
A report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently said in terms of remittance inflows, Bangladesh would be among the five-worst developing Asian economies.
It said the country’s remittance inflow will be reduced by almost 28 percent than the $15.50 billion in the year of 2018.
It also predicted the global economy would be lost $108.6 billion in remittances in 2020, down 18.3 percent from a year earlier while, by sub-region, South Asia are expected to reduce the most, down by 24.7 or $28.6 billion over the previous year of 2018.
An official of Bangladesh Bank (BB) said various time-befitting initiatives taken by the government have resulted in an increased awareness among expatriate workers to send their hard-earned money through legal channels, pushing up the remittance inflow.
The country’s remittance inflow witnessed a record high reaching almost $2.60 billion in July, which is the first time in the history of Bangladesh to cross the remittance to $2.50 billion.
In June 2020, the remittance inflow stood at a record $1.83 billion in a single-month, exceeding the previous milestone of $1.74 billion in May last year.
The higher growth of remittance inflow now is attributed to a budget declaration of 2 percent cash incentive to remitters on inward remittance for the last fiscal year.
This will significantly increase the remittance inflow through legal channels and discourage the ‘hundi’ business, economists said.
However, the country’s remittance inflow witnessed a record growth to touch a milestone of $18.20 billion in last fiscal 2019-20 despite a global economic recession amid the Covid-19 crisis. This inflow was 10.85 per cent higher than the previous fiscal year.
In fiscal (FY) 2018-19, the country’s remittance inflow stood at a record high of $16.41 billion, according to BB.
This inflow increased by about 9.5 per cent in FY19 from $14.98 billion in the previous fiscal.
However, Bangladeshi expatriates sent home $11.65 billion in FY11, $12.84 billion in FY12, $14.46 billion in FY13, $14.23 billion in FY14, $15.31 billion in FY15, $14.93 billion in FY16, $12.77 billion in FY17 and $14.98 billion in FY18 respectively.
More than 1.02 crore Bangladeshi expatriates are currently working in some 174 countries across the world.
Former World Bank lead economist in Dhaka, Zahid Hussain, told Bangladesh Post, “Cash incentive to remitters has helped boost the inward remittance.”
It is unlikely that whether the growth will sustain next year or not as Bangladeshi expatriates are facing many challenges in foreign countries, he said adding that coronavirus has severely disrupted the economic activities all over the world.
He further mentioned that most of the unskilled Bangladeshi workers working in the middle-eastern countries are in a fear to lose their jobs as many companies have temporarily closed down. Moreover, many small businessmen are going through a critical time following the coronavirus pandemic.
“We need to create skilled manpower for jobs abroad side by side exploring new job markets in the European region to increase remittance inflow further,” he added.
