The inflow of remittance increased by 2.44 per cent to $12.30 billion in July, the first month of the current fiscal year, on year-on-year basis as the expatriate Bangladeshis remitted more US dollars in the period ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, said officials of the Bangladesh Bank.
According to the BB data released on Monday, the expatriates sent $12.30 billion in remittance in July of the FY 2013-14 against $12.01 billion sent in the same month of the FY 2012-13.
In July the inflow of remittance increased by 16.27 per cent from that in June ($1.05 billion).
A BB official told New Age that the rise in the inflow of remittance in July was a usual phenomenon as the expatriates sent more greenbacks to their near and dear ones in the country ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals for Muslims to be celebrated on Friday or Saturday.
The expatriates usually send more greenbacks to their near and dear ones on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.
The BB official said the inflow of remittance might decline in the months to come if the existing downtrend in the import payment persists.
The inflow of remittance decreased gradually in the last three months of the just concluded FY13 as the value of US dollar maintained a depreciating trend against the local currency taka in the period, he said.
The majority of the banks are now holding surplus dollars as the country’s import payment declined significantly in the FY13 that resulted in depreciation in the value of greenback against the taka in the period, he said.
The BB has been intervening in the money market since the beginning of the FY13 to maintain remittance growth and to boost export, he said.
The BB’s initiative, however, have not succeeded much as the value of dollar declined by 4.83 per cent in the FY13 from that of FY12. The greenback was quoted at Tk 77.75 on July 31, 2013 against Tk 81.70 on July 31, 2012.
The BB purchased dollar worth $4.53 billion in the FY13 in a bid to stabilise the local foreign exchange market. The central bank also bought huge amount of greenback in July.
According to the BB data, the private commercial banks received $774.87 million in inward remittance in July while the state-owned commercial banks received $426.57 million, foreign commercial banks $15.74 million, and specialised banks $13.29 million.
Islami Bank received the highest amount of remittance ($303.60 million) among the PCBs while Agrani Bank received the highest amount of remittance ($144.50 million) among the SCBs.
The BB data showed the remittance inflow had increased by 12.59 per cent to Tk 14.46 billion in the FY13 compared with that of the FY12 when the expatriates had remitted $12.84 billion. The figure was $11.65 billion in the FY 2010-11.
-With New Age input
