RemittancesGateway.org

Remittances To Bangladesh Jump Almost 20 Percent

Thursday, 04 March 2010 11:55

Source: All Headline News
By Siddique Islam

Bangladesh expatriates sent home a record $7.329 billion in remittances during the first eight months of this fiscal year, marking a more than 19 percent growth over the same period a year ago.

Remittances, money from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad sent back to family members and others living in the country, were estimated at $844.07 million in February, a fall of $108.32 million from the previous month. In January, remittances were worth $952.39 million, according to statistics from the central bank of Bangladesh released Wednesday.

"The total amount of remittances dropped slightly in February over that of the previous month due mainly to fewer working days," a senior official of Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, told AHN Media.

Bangladesh received $7.329 billion during the July-February period of fiscal 2009-10 against $6.148 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, bank data showed.

The latest figure shows that despite the slowdown of overseas jobs, inflow of remittances has maintained a robust trend-a continuation of last fiscal year when remittances grew 22.41 percent, the BB official said.

The central bank earlier took a series of measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send money through formal banking channels instead of the illegal "hundi" system to boost the country's foreign exchange reserves.

Currently, some private commercial banks along with the state-owned commercial banks are desperately trying to increase the flow of inward remittances from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.

"We're establishing new contacts with overseas exchange houses so that our overseas workers can find it easy to send money back home," said a senior official of a private commercial bank.

The official also said some banks are trying to set up their own exchange houses in different parts of the world to expedite the flow of inward remittances.