The flow of inward remittances declined slightly from the European Union (EU) in the just-concluded fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 following the ongoing economic slowdown, officials said.
The inward remittances' flow from euro zone particularly from the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy fell in the FY 15 compared to the previous fiscal year, according to the central bank's latest statistics released on Thursday.
"We're analysing the falling trend in inward remittances particularly from the EU countries in the FY 15," an executive director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Saturday.
The inflow of remittances from the UK came down to US$ 812.34 million in FY 15 from $ 901.23 million a year ago while the flow of inward remittances from Italy dropped to $ 260.16 million from $ 269.59 million.
"Remittances from the students who are studying in the UK fell substantially as the scope for working with student visa has been squeezed recently," the central banker explained.
He also said migration from Italy to other EU countries has resulted in the decline of inward remittances of the European country.
Besides, the inflow of remittance from Germany decreased to $ 21.16 million in the last fiscal year from $ 26.94 million in the FY 14, the BB data showed.
The overall inflow of remittances from across the world was at satisfactory level in the FY 15, the central banker added. Remittances sent by Bangladeshis working abroad reached $ 15.32 billion, a record in the country's history, in the FY 15, marking a 7.6 per cent growth over the previous fiscal year.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) topped the list of major sources of remittances for Bangladesh with a total of $ 3.34 billion sent from the country in the FY 15.
Other top sources of remittances include the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and South Korea. In FY 14, the inflow of remittances decreased by 1.61 per cent to $ 14.23 billion from $ 14.46 billion a year ago due to political turmoil and static trend in manpower export.
The BB earlier took a series of measures, including creating mass awareness so that the Bangladeshi expatriates can send their hard-earned money home through the banking channel instead of the illegal "hundi" system which helps boost the country's foreign-exchange reserves.
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