As global economies are gradually opening up despite the aggression of the rogue Covid-19 pandemic, remittance inflows are likely to bounce back in the second half of the current fiscal 2020-21.
Remittance inflow may rise further as an effective vaccine to prevent the deadly virus has already been available in different countries, said Bangladesh Bank in a report.
Moreover, the resumption of different development projects and overall economic activities in the country might be conducive to the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, said the central bank in its first quarter economic review.
"Various government policy measures such as relaxation of conditions for incentives including an extension of document submission time from 15 days to two months and a pandemic induced slump in transactions through informal channels supported the strong remittance growth," said the BB.
It said following the resilience of robust growth in remittance inflows, foreign currency reserves are expected to continue its uptrend.
The remarkable growth in remittance inflows mostly came from the Gulf region which accounted for 57 percent share of total inflows.
Remittances from Europe and Asia Pacific region also increased significantly during the first six months of the current Fy.
According to the latest data, Bangladeshis received a total of $12,944.74 million in remittances in the six months of FY21, which is around 37.60 percent higher than the amount of corresponding period of the preceding year.
The country received $9407.93 million remittances during the July-December period in fiscal year 2019-20.
“The inflow of remittances maintains upward trend in FY21as the government has been offering two percent cash incentive to streamline the legal channel to encourage non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) to send home money,” central bank’s chief spokesperson M Serajul Islam said.
The recent flow of remittance indicates that it is gradually increasing and this trend is likely to continue in the upcoming months, he added.
According to their data, the country received $2,598.21 million in July, $1,963.94 million in August , $2,151.05 million in September , $2,102.16 million in October, $2,078.74 million in November and $2050.64 million in December of the fiscal 2020-21.
But in 2019-20, the country got $1,597.69 million in July, $1,444.75 million in August, $1,472.16 million in September, $1,639.62 million in October and $1,555.23 million in November and $1691.68 million in December of the fiscal 2019-20.