Inward remittances fall after 13 yrs

The flow of inward remittances recorded a fall after 13 years in the just concluded fiscal year (FY) 2013-14 due mainly to political turmoil and static trend of manpower export, officials said.
The inflow of remittances declined by 1.61 per cent to US$14.23 billion in the FY'14 from $14.46 billion a year ago, according to the central bank statistics, released on Thursday.
Earlier in FY 01, the flow of inward remittances came down to $1.88 billion from $1.95 billion in the previous fiscal.
"The flow of inward remittance was hampered seriously in the first half of the FY'14 because of confrontational political situation in the first six months of the last fiscal," a senior official of Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
The remittances from the Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.29 billion in June 2014, up by $70.54 million from the level of the previous month. In May last, the remittances stood at $1.21 billion, the BB data showed.
The central banker said the inflow of remittance maintained a stable trend following improvement in the country's overall political situation after holding the parliament election on January 5 last.
Bangladesh received $6.77 billion as remittances during the July-December period of the FY 14. It was $7.45 billion in the second half of the same fiscal.
"We're now working to expedite the flow of inward remittances through strengthening delivery channel," another BB official said.
The central bank has already met with senior official of 34 commercial banks seeking their suggestions in this connection, according to the official.
Currently, 30 exchange houses operating across the globe have set up 992 drawing outlets abroad to expedite the remittance inflow, he added.
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.
On the other hand, manpower export witnessed a static trend in the last one-and-half-year as unstable situation is prevailing in different Middle-East counties, market operators said.
The country's manpower export faces difficulties following suspension of the same by various Middle East countries including Iraq, Libya and Kuwait, Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency (BAIRA), said.
 "The manpower demand from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also squeezed recently," Mr. Chowdhury noted.
He also said both public and private sectors are trying to expand manpower export in different country's including Thailand and Japan.
More than 170,000 people went abroad with jobs until May 2014 against more than 0.40 million in the whole year of 2013. It was over 0.60 million in 2012, the official figures showed.
 "Diplomatic efforts will be strengthened to increase manpower export in the Middle East countries," Mohammad Abdul Mannan, managing director and chief executive of the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), told the FE.
He also said marketing will be developed in the Middle East countries to facilitate the flow of inward remittance from the region.
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, a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said.
 "Both marketing and delivery channels will be strengthened to facilitate the flow of inward remittances," the private banker noted.