The flow of inward remittances during the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY) marked a significant rise by 21.85 per cent to US$ 3.98 billion over the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, officials said Thursday.
Bankers attributed such a hefty growth of remittances to increased inflow of the foreign currencies mainly because of two Eid festivals.
According to them, such a higher growth of inward remittances have been witnessed after showing a declining trend over the past several months.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) figures showed that the flow of remittances declined by 1.61 per cent to US$14.23 billion in the FY 14 from $14.46 billion in the previous fiscal.
"The inflow of remittances increased significantly during the period under review as the expatriate Bangladeshis sent significant amount of money to their relatives for celebrating the two Eid festivals," a senior BB official told the FE.
Bangladesh received $3.98 billion during the July-September period of 2013-14 against $3.27 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
The BB official also said the central bank is working hard to expedite the flow of inward remittances from different parts of the world.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.32 billion in September 2014, up by $144.97 million from the level of the previous month. In August last, the remittances stood at $1.17 billion, according to the central bank statistics, released Thursday. Currently, 29 exchange houses are operating across the globe and have set up 1020 drawing arrangements abroad to expedite the remittance inflow.
The flow of inward remittance may fall slightly this month, the central banker hinted.
The central bank 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 to help boost the country's foreign exchange reserve.
Country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $21.96 billion Thursday due mainly to the robust growth in inflow of remittances from Bangladeshis working abroad, another BB official said. Four state-run commercial banks and dozens of private commercial banks have stepped up efforts to increase remittance flow from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.
"Most of banks are now trying to establish new contacts with overseas exchange houses so that the migrant workers can find it easy to send money back home," a senior official of a leading commercial bank said.
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