The country’s remittance inflow registered a sturdy growth during July-April of the current fiscal 2018-19 as Bangladesh expatriates now prefer sending their hard-earned money through formal channel. Besides, the Bangladesh Bank has taken many steps to raise the remittance inflow while stronger dollar rate against Taka pushed the remittance inflow up, BB officials said.
The remittance inflow maintained strong growth with an increase of more than 10 percent in the last ten months of the ongoing fiscal. The inflow stood at about $13.03 billion during the July-April period of the current fiscal while the amount was $12.09 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data.
However, the local currency Taka depreciated by Tk 1.47 or almost 1.77 percent to Tk 84.45 on Thursday against US dollar from Tk 82.98 on the same day a year earlier, the BB data show. 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.
Md Adel Haque, former joint director of the central bank, told Bangladesh Post “Bangladesh’s economy is witnessing a sound growth with the constant rise in remittance earnings because of various effective initiatives of the government.” He said, the remittance inflow has maintained positive growth for several months and this flow will increase further in the upcoming months ahead of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.
He said, Bangladeshis working abroad have to go through various problems due to lack of proficiency in foreign languages, few vocation-specific skills and poor basic formal education, putting them at risk of losing jobs. In order to boost remittance inflow further, the government should focus on addressing these issues side by side tapping new job markets like in the European region, he added. Haque said, employment of skilled labourers aboard as well as market diversification can significantly increase the remittance flow in future.
