The country’s remittance inflow decreased by 9.20 per cent in the first five months of the current financial year compared with that in the corresponding period of the
FY13 due mainly to the existing political unrest and declining trend in the manpower export, said officials of Bangladesh Bank. According to the BB data released on Monday, the expatriates sent $5.55 billion in remittance in July-November of the FY14 against $6.11 billion sent in the same
period of the FY13.
Besides, the post-Eid hangover also hit the inward remittance in the last month, as the inflow decreased by 14.59 per cent to $1.05 billion in November from $1.23
billion in previous October.
The expatriates usually sent lower remittance to their near and dear ones after Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha. The country’s Muslims celebrated Eid-ul-Azha, one of the
biggest religious festivals for them, in mid-October.
A BB official told New Age on Monday that the existing political unrest was the pivotal reason for the decrease in the inflow of remittances in the first five months
of the FY14 as the volatile situation created an unfriendly business environment in the country.
The non-resident Bangladeshis are now reluctant to send remittances amid stagnation in the country’s investment sector, he said.
The small, medium and big entrepreneurs have recently adopted a ‘wait and see approach’ due to the recent spates of political violence ahead of the national elections,
he said.
The BB data showed that the inflow of remittances also dropped in November year-on-year, decreasing by 4.63 per cent to $1.05 billion from $1.10 billion in the same
month last year.
Another BB official said that the decreasing trend in export of manpower was another reason for the decline in the inward remittances.
According to expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry data, the country sent 2,73,386 people to different countries in first eight months of this year
while it sent a total of 6,07,798 people in 2012.
The ministry’s figure indicates that the export of manpower maintained a declining trend since the beginning of this year, the BB official said.
He said the United Arab Emirates, one of the largest manpower markets for Bangladesh, had stopped recruiting workers from Bangladesh from last year that put an adverse
impact on the manpower export.
The private commercial banks received $686.37 million in inward remittances in November while the state-run commercial banks received $339.56 million, foreign
commercial banks $12.93 million, and specialised banks got $12.25 million.
Islami Bank Bangladesh received the highest amount of remittance — $285.24 million — among the private commercial banks, while Agrani Bank received the highest amount
of remittance — $125.46 million — among the state-run banks.
-With New Age input
