The inflow of remittance increased to $1,232.41 million ($1.23 billion) in April of the current financial year 2013-14 against $1,194.40 million in the same month of the FY13 as the expatriate Bangladeshis are now feeling encouraged to send more greenback due to an eased political situation than the first half of the current FY. According to Bangladesh Bank data released on Monday, remittance inflow increased by 3.18 per cent in April compared with that of a rise of 10.19 per cent in the same month of the FY13. The expatriate Bangladeshis sent $1,083.89 million in remittance in April of the FY12.
A BB official told New Age on Monday that the inflow of remittance had maintained an upward trend from February on the basis of year-on-year after a major setback due to the political unrest centring holding of national elections in early January.
Despite the upward trend in the last three months, the inflow of remittance in the first 10 months of the FY decreased by 4.77 per cent to $11.72 billion from $12.31 billion in the corresponding period of the FY13.
The official said that the expatiate Bangladeshis felt discouraged to send the remittance in the country during the unstable political situation between July and January of the FY14 as they were worried about security of their hard-earned money due to a vulnerable position in the country’s law and orders.
Besides, the non-resident Bangladeshis also felt discouraged to send the greenback due to a sluggish business situation amid the political unrest.
The inward remittance is yet to get a full momentum as the political uncertainty is still persisting in the country, the BB official said.
The upward trend of inward remittance may continue in the coming months if the country’s political situation improves gradually, the BB official said.
He said the central bank was working continuously to increase the flow of inward remittance from different parts of the world.
The central bank earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel, instead of illegal ‘hundi’ system to help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserve.
Another BB official said that the inward remittance would not increase much if the government did not take more initiative to export manpower to abroad.
The country’s manpower export suffered serious setback in the last year which has already put an adverse impact on the remittance inflow, he said.
According to data from Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, 6,07,798 workers were employed overseas in 2012 but only 4,41,301 workers went abroad in 2013.
Lack of comprehensive policies and skilled workers, and political instability coupled with shrinking manpower export caused the drop in the remittance inflow to Bangladesh in the recent months, the official said.
Recruitment of Bangladeshi workers declined significantly in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, he said.
The private commercial banks received $804.07 million in inward remittance in April while the state-run commercial banks received $97.49 million, foreign commercial banks $14.34 million, and specialised banks got $16.51 million, the BB data showed.
-With New Age input
