The country’s remittance inflow hit an 11-month low of $1.07 billion in May due to continued declining trend of the US dollar against the local currency Taka, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
They said that political unrest was another cause of the lower inflow of remittance last month as such type of situation usually created an unfriendly business situation.The non-resident Bangladeshis are now reluctant in sending remittances due to the ongoing stagnation in the investment sector, they said.
The BB data released on Monday showed that the remittance inflow in May decreased by 9.62 per cent compared with that of April.
The figure of May was lowest in 11 months as remittance inflow in April was $1.19 billion, in March $1.22 billion, in February $1.16 billion, in January $1.32 billion, in December $1.28 billion, in November $1.10 billion, in October $1.45 billion, in September $1.17 billion, in August $1.17 billion and in July $1.20 billion.
BB data, however,
showed that remittance inflow in the first 11 months of the current financial year increased by 13.78 per cent compared with that of the same period of the last financial year.
The expatriate Bangladeshis in July-May of the FY 2012-13 sent $13.39 billion in remittance against $11.77 billion during the corresponding period of the FY 2011-12.
A BB official said that the expatriate Bangladeshis had earlier sent significant amount of the dollar due to a higher rate of the greenback against Taka.
‘But the scenario has recently changed much as the dollar is continuing to devalue against the Taka in the last few months due to lower import payments’, he said.
The BB is purchasing dollar frequently this fiscal year to contain the devaluation of the greenback in a bid to encourage the expatriates, he said.
The central bank has purchased $5 billion between July 1 and June 3 of the FY 2012-13, the highest purchased amount of the dollar in a single fiscal year of the country’s history, he said.
But the BB’s effort is virtually ineffective as the value of greenback decreased by 5.07 per cent in last one year. The dollar was quoted Tk 77.75 on June 3, 2013 against Tk 81.91 on June 2, 2012, according to the BB website.
The inflow of inward remittance may fall further in the months to come if the value of the dollar further declines, the official said.
Another BB official said the expatriates were also reluctant to send the greenback to the country due to the recent spates of political violence.
The political turmoil has squeezed the opportunity of investment in the private sector resulting that the non-resident Bangladeshis are not showing interest in sending greenback, he said.
The private commercial banks received $673.92 million in inward remittance in May while the state-owned commercial banks received $378.64 million, foreign commercial banks $13.33 million, and specialised banks $13.51 million.
The Islami Bank Bangladesh received the highest remittance of $280.93 million among the PCBs, while the Sonali Bank received the highest remittance of $136.06 million among the SCBs.
-With New Age input
