Significant fall in inflow of remittances from EU
Friday, 24 July 2009
Siddique Islam
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has taken special measures to allow operation of more exchange houses in the European Union (EU) against the backdrop of declining trend of remittance inflow from the Euro zone, officials said.
The flow of inward remittances witnessed a significant fall from three major EU countries -- the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy -- in the fiscal ended on June 30 following the ongoing economic recession.
"The flow of remittances declined from the countries in fiscal 2008-09 (FY09) due mainly to the ongoing financial crisis," a senior official of the central bank told the FE.
The BB official also said fluctuation of euro and British pound has also contributed to the fall in the flow of inward remittances from those countries.
The inflow of remittance from the United Kingdom decreased to US$789.65 million in fiscal 2008-09 (FY) from $896.13 million in the previous fiscal while the flow of remittance from Italy came down to $186.90 million from $214.46 million, according to the central bank statistics.
The country received a total of $19.32 million as remittances from Germany in FY09 against $26.87 million in the previous fiscal while the flow of remittances from Australia dropped to $6.78 million from $13.11 million.
"The central bank has issued a licence to the Standard Bank Limited to set up an exchange house in London to expedite the flow of inward remittances from the UK," the BB official said, adding that the Prime Bank Limited had also submitted an application to establish an exchange house in the UK.
The First Security Bank Limited has also applied to the central bank for establishing an exchange house in Italy, the BB official added.
"We're now securitising the applications of the banks concerned," the BB official said, adding that the central bank had taken the move to stop unhealthy competition among the exchange houses in the EU countries.
The central bank has already advised the exchange houses, which are remitting money from the UK, for taking preparations to comply with the rules and regulations of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The exchange houses will come under supervision and monitoring of the FSA from November this year, the BB officials added.
Saudi Arabia topped the list of major sources of remittance for Bangladesh with a total of $2.859 billion in FY 09, the BB's data showed.
"The flow of inward remittances from the Middle-East countries is still at a satisfactory level despite the global meltdown," another BB official said.
The United Arab Emirates, the United States, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea are among the other top sources of remittance.
Remittances sent by Bangladeshis working abroad reached $9.689 billion, a record in the country's history, in FY09, marking a 22.42 per cent growth over the last fiscal.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has taken special measures to allow operation of more exchange houses in the European Union (EU) against the backdrop of declining trend of remittance inflow from the Euro zone, officials said.
The flow of inward remittances witnessed a significant fall from three major EU countries -- the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy -- in the fiscal ended on June 30 following the ongoing economic recession.
"The flow of remittances declined from the countries in fiscal 2008-09 (FY09) due mainly to the ongoing financial crisis," a senior official of the central bank told the FE.
The BB official also said fluctuation of euro and British pound has also contributed to the fall in the flow of inward remittances from those countries.
The inflow of remittance from the United Kingdom decreased to US$789.65 million in fiscal 2008-09 (FY) from $896.13 million in the previous fiscal while the flow of remittance from Italy came down to $186.90 million from $214.46 million, according to the central bank statistics.
The country received a total of $19.32 million as remittances from Germany in FY09 against $26.87 million in the previous fiscal while the flow of remittances from Australia dropped to $6.78 million from $13.11 million.
"The central bank has issued a licence to the Standard Bank Limited to set up an exchange house in London to expedite the flow of inward remittances from the UK," the BB official said, adding that the Prime Bank Limited had also submitted an application to establish an exchange house in the UK.
The First Security Bank Limited has also applied to the central bank for establishing an exchange house in Italy, the BB official added.
"We're now securitising the applications of the banks concerned," the BB official said, adding that the central bank had taken the move to stop unhealthy competition among the exchange houses in the EU countries.
The central bank has already advised the exchange houses, which are remitting money from the UK, for taking preparations to comply with the rules and regulations of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The exchange houses will come under supervision and monitoring of the FSA from November this year, the BB officials added.
Saudi Arabia topped the list of major sources of remittance for Bangladesh with a total of $2.859 billion in FY 09, the BB's data showed.
"The flow of inward remittances from the Middle-East countries is still at a satisfactory level despite the global meltdown," another BB official said.
The United Arab Emirates, the United States, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea are among the other top sources of remittance.
Remittances sent by Bangladeshis working abroad reached $9.689 billion, a record in the country's history, in FY09, marking a 22.42 per cent growth over the last fiscal.