Workers remit $14.46b from abroad in the year to June 30
The country received a record $14.46 billion of remittance in the just concluded fiscal year, the central bank said yesterday.
Of the amount, two-thirds came from Middle Eastern countries alone.
The figure — 12.59 percent higher than in fiscal 2011-12 — has been credited to the efficiency of banks and the central bank’s policy steps.
“Beneficiaries can now get their remittances in just 10 minutes. This efficiency is encouraging the expatriates to send more and more money back home,” said Mahfuzur Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Bank.
The central bank has organised several awareness campaigns overseas to discourage remitters from sending their money through illegal channels.
It has also encouraged commercial banks to open exchange houses overseas to facilitate the process, Rahman added.
And, commercial banks say the move is paying off.
“Banks were able to net the untapped remitters,” SM Aminur Rahman, managing director and chief executive officer of Janata Bank, said. The bank has transmitted around $1 billion of remittances in fiscal 2012-13.
To tap in more expatriates, Janata has applied to the central bank for permission to appoint agents in Italy, he said.
The importance of remittance to the economy is progressively increasing, as it swells the country’s foreign currency reserve and strengthens the current account balance.
Furthermore, it helps the beneficiaries score higher in the social and economic indicators like education, nutrition, living condition, housing, health care, poverty reduction, social security and investment.
In June, migrant workers sent home $1.06 billion from overseas, compared with $1.07 billion in the same month a year ago, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.
Between July and February of fiscal 2012-13, some 3.73 lakh Bangladeshis have gone abroad for employment, according to Bangladesh Economic Review.
Source: The Daily Star
