The flow of inward remittance showed a downward trend in July, the first month of the current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, after celebration of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, officials said on Monday.
Bangladeshi nationals working abroad sent US$ 1.39 billion in July. The amount was lower by $52.29 million than the remittance earned in the previous month. In June, the remittance was $1.44 billion, according to the central bank's latest statistics, released on Monday.
"The inflow of remittance decreased slightly in July after celebration of the Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the flow of inward remittance is expected to pick up this month ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival.
"We're working continuously to increase the flow of inward remittance," he added.
Currently, 34 exchange houses operating across the globe have set up 1,089 drawing arrangements abroad to expedite the remittance inflow, according to the BB official.
The country's foreign exchange reserve rose to $25.53 billion on Monday from $25.47 billion of the previous working day following steady growth of inward remittance.
The central bank earlier took a series of measures, including increasing mass awareness, so that expatriate Bangladeshis send their hard-earned money home through the banking channel instead of illegal "hundi" system, which helped boost the country's foreign-exchange reserve.
Four state-run commercial banks and dozens of private commercial banks also stepped up their efforts to increase remittance flow from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.
"We're trying to increase the inward remittance flow from different parts of the world through signing drawing arrangements with overseas companies," a senior official of a leading bank told the FE.
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