32.8pc remittance growth in '08
FE Report | Monday, 7 July 2008
Remittances sent by Bangladeshis working abroad reached nearly US$8.00 billion, a record in the country's history, in the just concluded fiscal, marking a 32.80 per cent growth over the same period of the last fiscal.
The flow of remittance in fiscal 2007-08 was a continuation of the trend of last fiscal when it was recorded at $5.97 billion.
The growth in 2006-07 was 24.52 per cent over the previous fiscal.
The country received $7.939 billion worth of remittances during the last fiscal (2007-08) against $5.978 billion in the previous fiscal, according to the provisional figure of the central bank, released Sunday.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $778.37 million in June last. In May 2008, the remittance was worth $730.26 million.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $6.20 billion on the day, thanks to a robust growth of remittances from the expatriate Bangladeshis, officials said.
The foreign exchange reserve, however, is likely to come down slightly as the central bank is set to pay around $591 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) in a day or two.
"We expect the existing trend of inward remittances will continue in this fiscal," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE, adding that the government has also taken different measures to increase the flow of remittances through banking channel.
He also said remittances continued to rise sharply due to massive growth in manpower export and implementation of the Anti-money Laundering Act that influenced the expatriates to use official channels instead of illegal channel 'hundi' for sending money.
More than 475,800 Bangladeshis found jobs in over 100 countries during the January-June period of this calendar year, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) statistics.
The central bank has already enacted a series of anti-money laundering laws and simplified money exchange rules to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to avoid the illegal hundi channel.
It has also allowed the commercial banks to make partnership with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) having branches all over the country for disbursement of the remittances, particularly in the rural areas.
The ACU is an arrangement among the central banks of the member countries to settle trade related payments on a multilateral basis. Its members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Under the existing provisions, settlement of the balance and accrued interests are made at the end of each two-month period.
The flow of remittance in fiscal 2007-08 was a continuation of the trend of last fiscal when it was recorded at $5.97 billion.
The growth in 2006-07 was 24.52 per cent over the previous fiscal.
The country received $7.939 billion worth of remittances during the last fiscal (2007-08) against $5.978 billion in the previous fiscal, according to the provisional figure of the central bank, released Sunday.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $778.37 million in June last. In May 2008, the remittance was worth $730.26 million.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $6.20 billion on the day, thanks to a robust growth of remittances from the expatriate Bangladeshis, officials said.
The foreign exchange reserve, however, is likely to come down slightly as the central bank is set to pay around $591 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) in a day or two.
"We expect the existing trend of inward remittances will continue in this fiscal," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE, adding that the government has also taken different measures to increase the flow of remittances through banking channel.
He also said remittances continued to rise sharply due to massive growth in manpower export and implementation of the Anti-money Laundering Act that influenced the expatriates to use official channels instead of illegal channel 'hundi' for sending money.
More than 475,800 Bangladeshis found jobs in over 100 countries during the January-June period of this calendar year, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) statistics.
The central bank has already enacted a series of anti-money laundering laws and simplified money exchange rules to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to avoid the illegal hundi channel.
It has also allowed the commercial banks to make partnership with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) having branches all over the country for disbursement of the remittances, particularly in the rural areas.
The ACU is an arrangement among the central banks of the member countries to settle trade related payments on a multilateral basis. Its members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Under the existing provisions, settlement of the balance and accrued interests are made at the end of each two-month period.