The country’s remittance inflow hit a 21-month low of $1.01 billion in August due to a lower value of US dollar against the local currency taka and the post-Eid hangover, said Bangladesh Bank officials. They said that political unrest was another cause of the lower inflow of remittance last month as such a situation usually created an unfriendly business situation.The non-resident Bangladeshis are now reluctant to send remittances due to the ongoing stagnation in the investment sector, they said.
The BB data released on Tuesday showed that the remittance inflow in August decreased by 14.46 per cent from $1.17 billion received in the corresponding month in 2012.
The flow of inward remittances also fell by 18.62 per cent in August from that of July, when Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated, the BB data showed.
A BB official said that the expatriate Bangladeshis had earlier sent significant amounts of dollars due to a higher rate of the greenback against the taka.
The inward remittance increased by 12.59 per cent to $14.46 billion in the FY 13 from that of $12.84 billion in the FY 12.
‘But the scenario has changed recently as the dollar depreciated significantly against the taka in the last few months due to lower import payments and higher export earnings,’ he said.
The BB has been purchasing dollar frequently since the last fiscal year to contain the devaluation of the greenback in a bid to encourage the expatriates, he said.
The inflow of remittance had maintained a declining trend in the last three months of the FY 2012-13, but the inflow increased in July due to the Eid-ul Fitr, he said.
The inflow of remittance usually decreased after the Eid-ul-Fitr which also hit the inflow last month, he said.
The BB purchased a record amount of greenback worth $4.53 billion in the last fiscal year to contain the devaluation of dollar against the taka in a bid to encourage the remitter and exporters.
But the BB’s effort is virtually ineffective as the value of greenback decreased by 4.95 per cent in last one year. The dollar was quoted Tk 77.75 on June 30, 2013 against Tk 81.80 on June 29, 2012.
The private commercial banks received $652.45 million in inward remittance in August while the state-owned commercial banks received $330.04 million, foreign commercial banks $15 million, and specialised banks $10.71 million.
The Islami Bank Bangladesh received the highest remittance of $265.99 million among the PCBs, while the Agrani Bank received the highest remittance of $116.59 million among the SCBs.
-With New Age input
