Remittance inflow sees 5% growth in January

The rising trend of remittance continued in January with a nearly 5% growth over the earnings of December 2021. 

Remittances sent by expatriates increased by about $74 million compared to December, by around 4.52%. A report from Bangladesh Bank published Tuesday (1 February) contained the information. 

Expatriates sent $1.70 billion in remittances in January this year. Which was $1.63 billion in the previous month.

However, compared to January 2021, the remittances fell by about $257 million as expatriates sent $1.96 billion in remittances in the same period last year. Which shows a 13.12% decline.

The government had set a remittance target of $26 billion for the current fiscal 2021-22. However, remittances so far did not meet the target in the first seven months of the current financial year, according to the published report. 

In the first seven months of the current financial year, remittances reached  $11.94 billion which is only 45.92% of the government's projected target.

Meanwhile, the government has increased the incentive facility to bring more remittances to the country as per the target. Now expatriates will get incentives at the rate of 2.5% for sending money home.

Remittance inflows increased by 18.6% in the year 2020 compared to the previous year, but in 2021 it increased by only 1.5% compared to the previous year.

The Bangladesh Bank report states, due to ease the movement restriction in many host countries, especially in the middle-east, the number of emigrant workers has seemingly been increased.

About 299,410 Bangladeshi employees went abroad during October-December 2021 quarter. In comparison, 73,992 workers had gone abroad in the previous June- September 2021 quarter.