Remittance inflow 18pc up in November

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FE Report
The flow of inward remittances increased by over 18 per cent in November over the previous month due to the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha festival, officials said.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at US$767.35 million in November this year. In October the remittances stood at $646.51 million, according to the central bank statistics.
"We expect the upward trend in the inward remittances will continue this month due to the parliamentary election scheduled for December 29," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Thursday.
However, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates stood at $3.752 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal, growing by 33.77 per cent from that of the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Bangladesh received $3.752 billion during the July-November period of the fiscal 2008-09 against $2.805 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at US$5.437 billion Thursday due to robust growth of remittances.
The central bank earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send home their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel instead of 'hundi' and boost the country's foreign exchange reserve.
Besides, the BB has already directed the commercial banks to expedite delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at the quickest possible time to encourage the expatriates to use the banking channel for overseas fund transfer.