Remittances from EU, US fall in Feb
Friday, 20 March 2009
Siddique Islam
The flow of inward remittances declined slightly from European Union (EU) and the United States (US) in February following the ongoing economic recession, the central bank officials said.
The country received a total of US$ 128.30 million as remittances from the US in February over that of $143.27 million of the previous month of this calendar year, according to the central bank statistics released Thursday.
The inflow of remittance from the United Kingdom decreased to $54.72 million in February from $67.54 million in January while the flow of remittance from Italy came down to $11.81 million from $16.20 million, the BB's data showed.
"The inward remittance flow fell marginally from Euro zone particularly from United Kingdom and Italy in February mainly due to the economic recession in those countries," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Thursday.
He also said the flow of remittances from Middle-East countries are still at a satisfactory level.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $784.47 million in February last, a fall by $74.56 million from the previous month. In January 2009, the remittances aggregated $859 million, they added.
"We've already asked the commercial banks for taking effective measures to expedite the flow of inward remittances from different parts of the world including the Middle East, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Italy and Singapore," another BB official said.
He also said the central bank will take more measures to increase the flow of remittances from the United States and Euro zone in line with advices from the newly formed 27-member high-powered taskforce.
The government formed the taskforce headed by the finance minister Wednesday to watch over the ongoing global economic recession and help mitigate its adverse impact on the country's economy.
Saudi Arabia topped the list of major sources of remittance for Bangladesh with a total of $250.60 million sent from the country in February, 2009.
United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Iran, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and South Korea are among the other top sources of remittance.
The flow of inward remittances declined slightly from European Union (EU) and the United States (US) in February following the ongoing economic recession, the central bank officials said.
The country received a total of US$ 128.30 million as remittances from the US in February over that of $143.27 million of the previous month of this calendar year, according to the central bank statistics released Thursday.
The inflow of remittance from the United Kingdom decreased to $54.72 million in February from $67.54 million in January while the flow of remittance from Italy came down to $11.81 million from $16.20 million, the BB's data showed.
"The inward remittance flow fell marginally from Euro zone particularly from United Kingdom and Italy in February mainly due to the economic recession in those countries," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Thursday.
He also said the flow of remittances from Middle-East countries are still at a satisfactory level.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $784.47 million in February last, a fall by $74.56 million from the previous month. In January 2009, the remittances aggregated $859 million, they added.
"We've already asked the commercial banks for taking effective measures to expedite the flow of inward remittances from different parts of the world including the Middle East, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Italy and Singapore," another BB official said.
He also said the central bank will take more measures to increase the flow of remittances from the United States and Euro zone in line with advices from the newly formed 27-member high-powered taskforce.
The government formed the taskforce headed by the finance minister Wednesday to watch over the ongoing global economic recession and help mitigate its adverse impact on the country's economy.
Saudi Arabia topped the list of major sources of remittance for Bangladesh with a total of $250.60 million sent from the country in February, 2009.
United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Iran, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and South Korea are among the other top sources of remittance.