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Bangladesh sees a record in yearly remittance receipt with the accumulated volume of foreign currencies sent by remitters having already crossed $31 billion this outgoing fiscal year -- first in its history.
Such record inflow of remittance plays a significant role in bolstering the country's foreign-exchange reserves, giving some respite to the economy that has been passing through multi-pronged macroeconomic strains amid forex dearth.
According to the latest data with Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, Bangladeshis working abroad sent in remittances equivalent to $2.54 billion in the first 28 days of this month, 7.1-percent higher than that of the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.
With the latest statistics, the country had received $30.05 billion until June 28 of this current fiscal year. And this yearly remittance receipt is $5.28-billion higher than the previous record of $24.77 billion registered in FY'21.
Since the financial year 2020-21, according to the official data, the $450-billion economy had earned $21.03 billion, $21.61 billion and $23.91 billion in FY'22, FY'23 and FY'24 respectively.
Seeking anonymity, a BB official says the upturn in remittance continued following stability in exchange rate over the last several months.
"Simultaneously," the official says, "operation of the informal channels for remittance remained inactive because of close regulatory watch since the changeover in state power through the July-August mass uprising (last year)."
On the other hand, according to the official, the latest depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar following implementation of the market-centric exchange regime encourages the remitters to send money back home through official channel.
"And such rising inflow (of remittance) keeps bolstering the forex reserves," the central banker says about a respite to the exchequer.
According to the BB data, the gross forex reserves rose to $31.31 billion and $26.32 billion in BB and IMF's BPM6 calculations respectively as on June 29, 2025.
With the leap in the stock of foreign currencies, the net international reserves (NIR) rose to $20.32 billion until June 29, 2025.
And the level is much higher than that of the IMF's (International Monetary Fund)-recommended threshold of $17.40 billion by end of this June under its upgraded $5.50-billion lending package.
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