Oct remittance fall blamed on decline in exchange rates
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Siddique Islam
The flow of inward remittances fell by 17.40 per cent in October compared to the previous month mainly due to the decline in exchange rates of the Euro and the Great Britain Pound (GBP) against the US dollar.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at US$655.98 million in October this year. In September the remittances stood at $794.18 million, according to the central bank statistics, released Tuesday.
"We expect the flow of inward remittances would increase this month ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
"We've been informed that a good number of Bangladeshi nationals working abroad have held up their hard-earned currencies because of the downward trend of the exchange rates of such foreign currencies in the global market," he added.
The BB official, however, said the flow of inward remittances is yet to be affected directly by the global financial crisis.
On the other hand, commercial banks' officials saw the downward trend of inward remittances as an outcome of the ongoing international financial crisis. The country's export earnings might also be affected if the crisis prolongs, they feared.
"The flow of remittances dropped in October due to an immediate effect of the ongoing global fiscal crisis," a senior official of a private commercial bank told the FE.
But the official said the declining trend of remittances will not affect the country's interbank foreign exchange market as the pressure on opening fresh letters of credit (LCs) against imports is lower.
However, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates stood at $2.992 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal, growing by 36.80 per cent from that of the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Bangladesh received $2.992 billion during the July-October period of the fiscal 2008-09 against $2.187 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $5.10 billion Tuesday after making a routine payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), officials said.
Bangladesh made a routine payment of around $500 million to the ACU Monday against imports for the period of September-October of the current fiscal year.
The central bank earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send home their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel instead of 'hundi' and boost the country's foreign exchange reserve.
Besides, the BB has already directed the commercial banks to expedite delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at the quickest possible time to encourage the expatriates to use the banking channel for overseas fund transfer.
The flow of inward remittances fell by 17.40 per cent in October compared to the previous month mainly due to the decline in exchange rates of the Euro and the Great Britain Pound (GBP) against the US dollar.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at US$655.98 million in October this year. In September the remittances stood at $794.18 million, according to the central bank statistics, released Tuesday.
"We expect the flow of inward remittances would increase this month ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
"We've been informed that a good number of Bangladeshi nationals working abroad have held up their hard-earned currencies because of the downward trend of the exchange rates of such foreign currencies in the global market," he added.
The BB official, however, said the flow of inward remittances is yet to be affected directly by the global financial crisis.
On the other hand, commercial banks' officials saw the downward trend of inward remittances as an outcome of the ongoing international financial crisis. The country's export earnings might also be affected if the crisis prolongs, they feared.
"The flow of remittances dropped in October due to an immediate effect of the ongoing global fiscal crisis," a senior official of a private commercial bank told the FE.
But the official said the declining trend of remittances will not affect the country's interbank foreign exchange market as the pressure on opening fresh letters of credit (LCs) against imports is lower.
However, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates stood at $2.992 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal, growing by 36.80 per cent from that of the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Bangladesh received $2.992 billion during the July-October period of the fiscal 2008-09 against $2.187 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $5.10 billion Tuesday after making a routine payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), officials said.
Bangladesh made a routine payment of around $500 million to the ACU Monday against imports for the period of September-October of the current fiscal year.
The central bank earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send home their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel instead of 'hundi' and boost the country's foreign exchange reserve.
Besides, the BB has already directed the commercial banks to expedite delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at the quickest possible time to encourage the expatriates to use the banking channel for overseas fund transfer.