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Speakers at a seminar on Saturday expressed the fear that remittance might decrease in the current financial year compared to the last year as the remittance inflow from Bangladesh expatriates continues to decline.
Debate for Democracy organised the seminar on "What to do to Increase Expatriate Income Mobility" in the city.
It said the inward remittance decreased by 5.88 per cent in July this year than July last year.
Remittance flows fell further in August, and also, the earnings are expected to decline in September.
They identified using hundi by the workers and money launderers among the main reasons for the downward trend in inward remittance.
At the same time, due to service shortages in banking channels, additional costs of sending money officially and fluctuations in the dollar exchange rate are the reasons behind it. Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiran, chairman of Debate for Democracy, presented the keynote paper at the discussion.
He said they demanded for increasing incentive to the remitters to 5.0 per cent from existing 2.5 per cent and exempting additional charges if workers send money through banking channel.
But the government did not fulfill their demand, he added
If an expatriate worker sends Tk100 to the country through a formal channel, he or she will get Tk102.5 including incentive. And the workers are charged 3.0 per cent more to send money to the country through banks.
So, if a worker sends money through banking channel, he or she will receive 50 paisa less for every Tk100, according to him.
On the other hand, workers get 3 to 4 per cent more if they send money via unofficial channel like hundi, he added.
Besides, those who send money to hundi get better services. "So why would the workers go through the trouble of sending money through banking channel?"
He further said the biggest remittance senders should be recognised through awards to encourage them to go for sending money through formal channel.
Mohammed Abul Basher, president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), said it needs to take an integrated effort by relevant offices and stakeholders to help increase remittance inflow home.