Remittance, the lifeblood of our economy, hits an all-time high in July, the first month of the current fiscal, gearing up the country’s foreign exchange reserves and economy as well ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
Market analysts said Bangladeshi expatriates usually send home more of their earnings on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha for sacrificing animals as well as meeting daily expenses of their families.
They said it is a piece of good news that the crisis-ridden Bangladeshi expatriates are still continuing to send home remittances though millions of them are toiling abroad amid insufferable conditions due to the fall in oil prices and other predicaments. They are virtually providing oxygen to our economy.
An official of Bangladesh Bank (BB) said various time- befitting initiatives taken by the government have resulted in an increased awareness among expatriate workers to send their hard-earned money through legal channels, pushing up the remittance inflow.
The country’s remittance inflow witnessed a record high reaching almost $2.24 billion in the first 28 days in July. BB officials expect, the remittance inflow this month would reach almost $2.5 billion which is the first time in the history of Bangladesh to cross the remittance to $2 billion.
In June 2020, the remittance inflow stood at a record $1.83 billion for a single-month, exceeding the previous milestone of $1.74 billion in May last year.
The higher growth of remittance inflow now is attributed to a budget declaration of 2 per cent cash incentive to remitters on inward remittance for the last fiscal year.
This will significantly increase the remittance flow through legal channels and discourage the ‘hundi’ business, economists said.
However, the country’s remittance inflow witnessed a record growth to touch a life-time high of $18.20 billion in last fiscal 2019-20 despite a global economic recession amid the Covid-19 crisis. This inflow was 10.85 per cent higher than the previous fiscal year.
In fiscal (FY) 2018-19, the country’s remittance inflow stood at a record high of $16.41 billion, according to BB.
This inflow increased by about 9.5 per cent in FY19 from $14.98 billion in the previous fiscal.
However, Bangladeshi expatriates sent home $11.65 billion in FY11, $12.84 billion in FY12, $14.46 billion in FY13, $14.23 billion in FY14, $15.31 billion in FY15, $14.93 billion in FY16, $12.77 billion in FY17 and $14.98 billion in FY18 respectively.
Over 1.02 crore Bangladeshi expatriates are currently working in 174 countries across the world.
Lead economist Zahid Hussain told Bangladesh Post, “Cash incentive to remitters has helped boost the inward remittance.” It is unlikely that the growth will sustain next year as Bangladeshi expatriates are facing many challenges abroad, he said adding that coronavirus has disrupted severely the economic activities all over the world.
He further mentioned that most of the unskilled Bangladeshi workers working in the middle-eastern countries fear to lose their jobs as many companies have temporarily closed down while many small businessmen are passing through critical times following the coronavirus pandemic.
“We need to create skilled manpower for jobs abroad side by side exploring new job markets in the European region to increase remittance inflow further,” he added.
