Bangladesh’s remittance inflow fell to a 10-month low of $1.90 billion in July as expatriates were unable to send funds for some time due to an internet blackout centring the students’ quota reform movement.
Earlier, the lowest expatriate income came in September last year at $1.33 billion, according to Bangladesh Bank’s latest report on expatriate income.
July’s receipts were lower by 3.2 percent year-on-year as banks could not collect the money sent home by migrant workers because of a five-day internet blackout across the country.
Remittance receipts were $1.97 billion in July last year, according to Bangladesh Bank Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque.
Central bank data showed that the inflow of remittance, a key source of foreign currency, stood at $138 million from July 21 to July 27, the lowest among the four weeks of the month. As such, Bangladesh missed out on much-needed foreign currencies to boost the country’s falling forex reserve.
On the last day of July, remitters sent $120 million, Haque said.
However, remittance grew 10 percent year-on-year to $23.9 billion in fiscal 2023-24, with the receipts last June standing at $2.54 billion, according to central bank data.
Bankers and experts believe that remittance receipts through formal channels would have been higher if there were no bank closures and internet outage.
Bangladesh experienced a five-day internet outage from around 9:00pm on July 18 following violence, deaths and injuries related to the quota reform movement.
The government partially restored broadband connections on July 23 and fully restored internet access nationwide the next day.
Bankers noted that remittance collection was suspended during the outage, and the overall flow of receipts did not recover even after the internet was restored.
Monzur Hossain, research director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the recent 3.2 percent decline in remittance is nothing to worry about as it is a normal trend.
“There is nothing unusual about such a change in remittance inflow,” Hossain added.
Daily Star
