Remittances rise ahead of Eid festival
Inflow reaches $887m in first two weeks of June
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The country received nearly US$ 900 million in remittances in the first half of the current month as overseas Bangladeshis sent higher volume of money back home ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, officials said.
The inflow of remittances amounted to $ 886.92 million from June 01 to June 15, according to the central bank's latest statistics released on Monday.
The flow was $ 902.02 million from May 01 to May 18.
"The flow of inward remittance increased significantly during the period mainly due to the Eid festival," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the inflow of remittance may fall slightly in the third and fourth weeks of this month.
Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) and migrant workers normally send higher amount of foreign currencies to their near and dear ones to help them celebrate the Eid festival.
Currently, 29 exchange houses are operating across the globe.
Also, some 1,202 drawing arrangements have been set up abroad to boost the remittance inflow, the BB official said.
Senior bankers, however, said the weakening local currency against the US currency has helped increase the flow of inward remittance in recent months.
The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated by Tk 3.10 to Tk 83.70 on Monday in the inter-bank foreign exchange market from Tk 80.60 on July 02, 2017, the first working day of the FY'18.
The strengthened surveillance of the central bank to check 'hundi', the illegal ways of moving funds across the border, has also contributed to the increased remittance inflow through the banking channel, they added.
The inflow of overall remittances grew by over 17 per cent to $ 13.57 billion during the July-May period of the fiscal year (FY), 2017-18, from $ 11.55 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
The central bank had earlier taken a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel to help boost the foreign exchange reserves.