ZCZC
BSS-19
REMITTANCE-INFLOW
Remittance inflow rises 4.5 times in 10yr
DHAKA, Jan 4, 2018 (BSS) – The flow of remittances into the country has increased 4.50 times in the last 10 years which can be viewed as a milestone in way of upgrading Bangladesh a developed country.
According to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, expatriate Bangladeshis have sent around US$9,700 billion from 2008 to 2017 which was around $7,700 billion higher than the amount sent in previous 10 years. Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) have sent around $2000 billion from 1998 to 2007.
“Due to the different steps taken by the government and the central bank, the inflow of remittance in the last couple of years showed an upward trend,” BB Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan told BSS here today.
Moreover, he said, numbers of expatriate Bangladeshis have been gradually increasing as the government has taken various steps to send skilled workers abroad.
He said the process of sending money into the country has become easier than before as the government and BB has provided all sorts of policy supports to the banks and exchange houses for proving uninterrupted services to the remittance senders.
“Now expatriate Bangladeshis can avail of the mobile financial service facilities to send home their earnings,” he added.
In the first couple of months of the last year, he said, the inflow of remittance was falling due to various reasons, including the declining currency rate against dollar, low oil prices and the use of informal channels by the NRBs to send their income home.
He said BB has taken all necessary steps to divert the inflow of remittances through legal channels and now NRBs are feeling more comfortable to send their earnings through the legal channels.
As part of its move to plug informal channels, Razee Hassan said the central bank has already put some mobile banking operators under close supervision as it has identified some mobile accounts that have been used for sending remittances illegally. According to the data of BB, migrant workers remitted $562.62 billion in first six month of the current fiscal 2017-18,
$1010.99 billion in 2016-17, $1,168.57 billion in 2015-16, $1,189.93 billion in 2014-15, $1,105.84 billion in 2013-14, $1,156.47 billion in 2012-13, $1,018.82 billion in 2011-12, $829.91 billion in 2010-11, $760.11 billion in 2009-10 and $666.77 billion in 2008-09.
The NRBs sent $542.96 billion in 2007-08 fiscal, $413.01 billion in 2006-07, $322.76 billion in 2005-06, $236.48 billion in 2004-05, $198.70 billion in 2003-04, $177.29 billion in 2002-03, $143.77 billion in 2001-02, $101.70 billion in 2000-01, $98.07 billion in 1999-2000, $81.98 billion in 1998-1999 and $69.35 billion in 1997-98.
BSS/SPL/KUC/GA/1713