11-month inflow dips by 3.54pc year-on-year
The inflow of remittance continued to maintain a positive trend for the fourth month in May as expatriate Bangladeshis sent home US$ 1,202.18 million in the month compared with US$ 1,087.19 million in the same period of the previous year. Despite the upward trend in the last four months, the inflow of remittance in the first 11 months of the FY14 decreased by 3.54 per cent to US$ 12.92 billion from US$ 13.40 billion in the corresponding period of FY13.
According to Bangladesh Bank data released on Monday, remittance inflow posted a 10.57 per cent growth in May compared with that of a negative growth of 6.01 per cent in the same month of the FY13.
The expatriate Bangladeshis sent US$ 1,156.82 million in remittance in May of the FY12.
A BB official told New Age on Monday that the inflow of remittance maintained an upward trend from February on the basis of year-on-year after a major setback due to the political unrest over holding the national election in early January.
The official said that the expatiate Bangladeshis felt discouraged to send remittances to the country due to the unstable political situation between July and January of the FY14.
But the inward remittance is yet to get a full momentum as political uncertainty is still persisting in the country, the BB official said.
For this reason, the inward remittance declined by US$ 28.39 million to US$ 1,202.18 million in May from US$ 1,230.57 million in April.
Against the backdrop, the country in this financial year may fail to surpass the earning of the inward remittance of
the FY13. The expatriate Bangladeshis had sent inward remittance amounting to US$ 14.46 billion in FY13.
Another BB official said that the inward remittance would not increase much if the government does not take more initiative to export manpower abroad.
The country’s manpower export suffered serious setback in 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 into the country in 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 US$ 801.61 million in inward remittance in May while the state-run commercial banks received US$ 371.13 million, foreign commercial banks US$ 14.11 million, and specialised banks got US$ 15.32 million, the BB data showed.
In May, Islami Bank Bangladesh received the highest amount of remittance — US$ 331.19 million — among the private commercial banks, while Agrani Bank got the highest amount of remittance — US$ 128.28 million — among the state-run banks.
-With New Age input
