Remittances fall by 10.69pc in August

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Siddique Islam brThe flow of inward remittances fell by 10.69 per cent in August over the previous month, as fallout of labour unrest in two Middle eastern countries compelled a good number of Bangladeshi workers to return home. brThe remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $732.98 million in August this year while in July the remittances were worth $820.71 million, according to the central bank statistics, released Wednesday. brMeanwhile, overseas jobs for Bangladeshis fell by 38 per cent in August compared to the previous month due to a decline in demand in the Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia, officials said. brWe expect that the flow of inward remittances would increase in this month ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. brSome private commercial banks (PCBs) are likely to face problem in making import payment bills following a fall in the country's overall inflow of remittances. brWe may face difficulties to manage fund internally in the near future due to fall in the inward remittances. The government should take immediate steps to resolve the problems with the Middle East countries, a senior treasury official of a PCB told the FE. brHe also said the PCB received $14 million as remittances in August against $20 million in July 2008. brSaudi Arabia topped the list of major sources of remittances with a total of $2.324 billion sent from the country in the fiscal 2007-2008 while a total of $863.73 million was remitted from Kuwait, the BB's data showed. brA total of $4.975 billion was remitted from eight Middle East countries in fiscal 2007-08 while $2.939 billion came from other countries of the world, according to the statistics. brHowever, remittances by the Bangladeshi expatriates stood at $1.553 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal, marking a 49.67 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the last fiscal, they added. brBangladesh received $1.553 billion during the July-August period of the current fiscal against $1.038 billion million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB's data showed. brThe country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $5.30 billion Wednesday after making a routine payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) Tuesday. brBangladesh made a routine payment of $582 million to the ACU against imports for July-August period of the current year on the day. brThe payment pushed down the foreign exchange reserve to $5.32 billion Tuesday from $5.96 billion on the previous day, the BB officials confirmed. brA total of 54,708 Bangladeshis secured jobs abroad in August, the lowest monthly figure since January, which is also 27.86 per cent down from the same period last year, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) statistics. brMore than 5.6 million Bangladeshis are now working in over 100 countries across the globe. In the 2007-8 fiscal they sent home $7.939 billion in remittances, up by nearly two billion dollars than the previous fiscal.br