Bangladesh received a substantial $ 1.25 billion in remittances through legal channels during the first sixteen days of November.
The daily average reached over $78.44 million as of November 16, up from $72.77 million recorded until November 9, according to data released by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday.
Earlier expatriate Bangladeshis sent a $655 million in remittances during the first nine days of November.
Sector insiders suggest that if this trend continues, remittances may either surpass or come close to the October figures.
They expect the steady inflow to maintain its momentum throughout the month.
An analysis of the central bank's data shows that, out of the total remittances received by November 16, $420.70 million came through state-owned banks, $81.46 million through a specialised bank, $ 749.75 million through private banks, and $3.22 million through foreign banks.
During this period, ten banks did not receive any remittances. These included state-owned Bangladesh Development Bank (BDBL), specialised Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB), and private banks such as Community Bank, Citizens Bank, ICB Islamic Bank, Padma Bank, and Shimanto Bank PLC. Among foreign banks, no remittances were sent through, Habib Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and State Bank of India.
Data from the central bank also indicates that the country received a total of $600.14 million in remittances over the six days from November 10 to November 16.
Expatriates sent nearly $1.53 billion in remittances to Bangladesh during the first 19 days of October.
The country received nearly $986.63 million in remittances in 12 days of October. Bangladesh earlier received a total of $561.91 million in remittances over the six days from October 7 to October 12, following $424.72 million during the previous six days from October 1 to October 6.
In the first month of the 2024-25 fiscal year (FY), July, Bangladesh received $1.91377 billion in remittances. This figure rose to $2.22415 billion in August.
In October, expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $2.39 billion, registering the same robust level of the previous month's (September) $2.4 billion, the BB data showed.
In the recently concluded FY 2023-24, Bangladesh recorded total remittances of $23.92 billion, equivalent to Tk 2.82 trillion, marking the second-highest inflow in the country's history.
The highest record was set in the FY 2020-21, with remittances totalling $24.77 billion.
sajibur@gmail.com