Inward remittance fell below $1 billion in September — for the first time in six months.
The central bank said the fall is seasonal and was mainly driven by a post-Eid slowdown.
In September, the remittance inflow came down to $843 million, whereas Bangladesh recorded more than $1 billion in remittance a month since March.
Compared to August, the remittance inflow fell 21 percent in September, but the amount increased only 0.71 percent compared to the same month last year.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said the fall in remittance inflow is due to a seasonal factor. He expressed hope that it will pick up next month.
Last year also, remittance inflow was $964 million in August, but it dropped to $837 million in September.
In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the remittance growth was a bit slow at only 10.49 percent.
The amount in the July-September period was $2.94 billion, up from $2.66 billion during the same period last year.
The growth went down for a second month in May due mainly to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa that has sent home thousands of migrant workers recently, another BB official said.
Remittance growth started to decline due to a significant decrease in the net outflow of migrant workers over the past one and a half years.
A number of migrant workers returned home following political unrest in the Middle East countries such as Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen.
The country’s foreign exchange reserve is also under pressure due to the slow remittance growth coupled with high pressure of fuel import bill.
After 24 months, the foreign exchange reserve plunged below $10 billion and it was at $9.8 billion yesterday.
In October 2009 the forex reserve crossed the $10 billion mark and later the reserve went above $11 billion.
However, the amount was $10.91 billion in June last year.
The BB official said the foreign exchange reserve was under pressure due mainly to a rise in the fuel import bill.
Energy ministry officials said a price hike on the international market and the increased number of quick rental power plants caused a jump in the fuel import bill.
The government will have to import a total of 70 lakh tonnes of fuel in the current fiscal year at a cost of $6.2 billion, according to a government estimate.
The amount was $4.2 billion for importing 49 lakh tonnes of fuel last year.
Bangladesh used to import 32-35 lakh tonnes of fuel a couple of years ago when there was no pressure of the power plants.
-With The Daily Star input
