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The flow of inward remittances grew by more than 21 per cent in the first seven months of this fiscal year (FY) on the back of incentives being provided by the government.
The inflow of remittances reached US$ 11.04 billion during the July-January period of FY 2019-20, as against $9.09 billion for the same period of FY '19, according to the central bank's latest data.
The government's incentive along with depreciating mode of the local currency against the US dollar has helped boost the inflow of remittances during the period under review, bankers said.
Remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.64 billion in January last, registering a decrease of $48.65 million from the previous month. In December 2019, the remittance stood at $1.69 million.
The flow of inward remittances was nearly $1.60 billion in January 2019.
Talking to the FE, Kazi Sayedur Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), said the inflow of remittances may cross $20 billion-mark by the end of FY '20.
Mr. Rahman also expressed the hope that the upward trend of remittance would continue in the coming months as the government has announced a 2.0 per cent incentive for remittance receipts.
The government has already allocated Tk 30.60 billion as incentive in the budget for FY '20 to encourage expatriate workers to send their money through legal channels.
Echoing the BB official's view, a senior executive of a leading commercial bank said the coming months might see the continuous upward trend of remittance due to the government's incentive and depreciating mode of taka against the US dollar.
The central bank had earlier taken a series of measures to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through formal banking channel instead of illegal "hundi" system in order to boost the country's foreign exchange reserves.