Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh received nearly US$ 650 million in the first two weeks of June after celebrating of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, officials said.
The inflow of remittance may fall this month. But it will pick up again in July, according to banking sector insiders.
The overall flow of inward may cross $16 billion by the end of this fiscal, a senior central banker predicted.
He also said the flow of inward remittance showed an upward trend in recent months due to the depreciation of the local currency against the US currency.
The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated by 60 poisha against the greenback in the inter-bank forex market from January 03 to May 06.
The greenback was quoted at BDT 84.50 each in the market on May 06 against BDT 83.90 on January 02 this calendar year, according to market operators.
It also remained unchanged at BDT 84.50 on Sunday.
The remittance inflow was estimated at $1.75 billion in May, up by 321.72 million the month before. The amount was $1.50 billion in May 2018.
Meanwhile, the inflow of remittance grew by nearly 11 per cent or $1.46 billion to $15.06 billion during the July-May period of the fiscal year (FY), 2018-19 from $13.60 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Currently, 29 Bangladeshi exchange houses are operating across the world along with more than 1,200 drawing arrangements abroad to boost the remittance inflow, they added.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel, instead of the illegal “hundi” system, which can help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
BBN/SSR/AD
