Forex reserve increases to $21.40b
The country’s inward remittance hit a new monthly record at $1.48 billion in July as expatriate Bangladeshis sent huge amount of greenback to their relatives on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr which was celebrated on July 29. A Bangladesh Bank official told New Age on Monday that Bangladesh had never received so much remittance in a single month. Expatriates had sent record $1.45 billion in October 2012, but they surpassed the figure last month.
‘Non-resident Bangladeshis usually send good amount of remittance ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha, two religious festivals for Muslims,’ the BB official said.
According to the BB data released on Monday, the inward remittance increased by 19.69 per cent to $1.48 billion in July, 2014 from $1.23 billion in the same month of 2013.
The BB data showed that the private commercial banks received $976.50 million in inward remittance in July while the state-run commercial banks got $469.64 million, foreign commercial banks $18.35 million, and specialised banks got $17.91 million.
In July, Islami Bank Bangladesh received the highest amount of remittance — $377.64 million — among the private commercial banks, while Agrani Bank got the highest amount of remittance — $161.52 million — among the state-run banks.
Due to an increasing trend in the inward remittance, the country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $21.40 billion on Monday, which is good enough to clear import bills of seven months.
Besides, the dollar continued to depreciate against the Bangladeshi currency taka in July and August as the scheduled banks are now enjoying available foreign currency due to the upward trend in the remittance.
Against the backdrop, the central bank purchased US dollar worth $503 million in July from the local banks to keep stable the exchange rate of the taka against the greenback, but its effort has virtually failed due to higher export earnings and steady growth in remittance against the lower import payments.
The BB data showed that the dollar depreciated continuously in July and August as it was quoted (buy-sales) at Tk 77.50-Tk 77.50 on August 3, at Tk 77.50-Tk 77.52 on July 31, at Tk 77.52-Tk 77.52 on July 27 and Tk 77.52-Tk 77.54 on July 24.
Another BB official, however, said that the upward trend in inward remittance might not continue in the coming months if the government does not take adequate initiative to export manpower abroad.
The remittance inflow registered a negative growth in financial year 2013-14 for the first time in last 14 years due to the downward trend in manpower exports, he said.
Expatriate Bangladeshis sent $14.22 billion in the FY14 against $14.46 billion in the FY13.
Political unrest also put an adverse impact on the inward remittance as the NRBs felt insecurity in sending their hard-earned money amid declining law and order situation, the official said.
The opposition political parties have recently threatened the government that they will start a new series of anti-government movement in the quickest possible time.
Fresh political unrest might hamper the flow of inward remittance, the official said.
-With New Age input
