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Expatriates sent nearly $1.53 billion in remittances to Bangladesh during the first 19 days of October in fiscal year FY 2024-25, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data released on Monday.
On average, daily remittances amounted to $80.70 million during this period. In comparison, remittances in the first 19 days of September totaled $1.47 billion.
Sector insiders suggest that if this trend continues, remittances may either surpass or come close to the September figures.
They expect the steady inflow to maintain its momentum throughout the month.
By October 19, more than $400.82 million of the remittances came through state-owned banks, $78.16 million through a specialized bank, $1.04 billion through private commercial banks, and $4.01 million through foreign banks.
Breaking down the remittance inflows, the BB reported $546 million received between October 13 and October 19, $561.90 million from October 6 to October 12, and $424.70 million in the first five days of the month (October 1-5).
The central bank's data shows that, out of the total remittances received by October 12, $245.6 million came through state-owned banks, $44.85 million through a specialized bank, $693.57 million through private banks, and $2.64 million through foreign banks. During this period, expatriates did not send any remittances through 11 banks.
These banks include state-owned Bangladesh Development Bank (BDBL), specialized Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB), and private banks such as Community Bank, Citizens Bank, ICB Islamic Bank, Padma Bank, and Union Bank. Among foreign banks, no remittances were sent through Habib Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, State Bank of India, or Woori Bank.
In the first month of the 2024-25 fiscal, July, Bangladesh received $1.91377 billion in remittances. In August, the figure rose to $2.22415 billion, and in September, remittances amounted to $2.40479 billion.
In the recently concluded 2023-24 fiscal year, Bangladesh received a total of $23.92 billion in remittances, equivalent to Tk 2.82 trillion. This marks the second-highest remittance inflow in the country's history.
The highest record was set during the 2020-21 fiscal year, with remittances totaling $24.77 billion.