Overseas workers send $950.92m home in Jan
Thursday, 4 February 2010
FE Report
Bangladeshis working abroad sent home a record US$950.92 million in the first month of the calendar year, marking an 8.81 per cent growth over the previous month, officials said Wednesday.
"The inflow of remittances picked up in January due mainly to the ongoing Boro cropping season," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said most of the Bangladeshi expatriates sent higher amount of remittances to their relatives to facilitate the current Boro plantation.
"We expect that the inflow of remittances may cross $11 billion mark by the end of this fiscal if the existing trend continues," the BB official added.
The country received $6.484 billion during the July-January period of fiscal 2009-10, registering a 20.89 per cent growth over the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics, released Wednesday.
The latest figure shows that despite the slowdown of overseas jobs, inflow of remittance has maintained a upward trend --- a continuation of last fiscal year when remittance grew 22.41 per cent, the BB officials said.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $10.13 billion Wednesday due to robust growth of remittances, they added.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned wages through formal banking channel instead of the illegal "hundi" system to boost the country's foreign exchange reserves.
As part of the measures, the BB issued 26 more licences to 14 commercial banks recently for setting up exchange houses in different parts of the world aiming at expediting remittance inflow.
The central bank has, so far, given approval to establish 295 exchange houses and set up 840 drawing arrangements abroad to boost flow of remittance through formal channels.
Besides, the BB has given permissions to 13 local and foreign commercial banks to disburse remittances using networks of 14 non-governmental organisations (NGOs.), including BRAC and ASA, across the country.
Bangladeshis working abroad sent home a record US$950.92 million in the first month of the calendar year, marking an 8.81 per cent growth over the previous month, officials said Wednesday.
"The inflow of remittances picked up in January due mainly to the ongoing Boro cropping season," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said most of the Bangladeshi expatriates sent higher amount of remittances to their relatives to facilitate the current Boro plantation.
"We expect that the inflow of remittances may cross $11 billion mark by the end of this fiscal if the existing trend continues," the BB official added.
The country received $6.484 billion during the July-January period of fiscal 2009-10, registering a 20.89 per cent growth over the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics, released Wednesday.
The latest figure shows that despite the slowdown of overseas jobs, inflow of remittance has maintained a upward trend --- a continuation of last fiscal year when remittance grew 22.41 per cent, the BB officials said.
The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $10.13 billion Wednesday due to robust growth of remittances, they added.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned wages through formal banking channel instead of the illegal "hundi" system to boost the country's foreign exchange reserves.
As part of the measures, the BB issued 26 more licences to 14 commercial banks recently for setting up exchange houses in different parts of the world aiming at expediting remittance inflow.
The central bank has, so far, given approval to establish 295 exchange houses and set up 840 drawing arrangements abroad to boost flow of remittance through formal channels.
Besides, the BB has given permissions to 13 local and foreign commercial banks to disburse remittances using networks of 14 non-governmental organisations (NGOs.), including BRAC and ASA, across the country.