Expatriate Bangladeshis sent around US $ 1,599.45 million remittances during the month of August in the fiscal 2023-24. Reports BSS. It is the lowest remittance in last six months. As per Bangladesh Bank (BB) available data, state-owned banks brought in $183.19 million while 43 private sector banks brought $1,376.02 million remittances. The highest $340.17 million remittance came to the country through Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. 

Bangladesh received inward remittances of $1.97 billion in July, the first month of Fiscal year 2023-24, which saw a decline on year-on-year basis by 5.86 percent. (UNB reported) According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the expatriates sent $2.19 billion remittance in June last month of FY23, saw a fall by 10.27 percent in July. Despite the fall in remittance inflow in July, the central bank officials described it as better than other months. UNB mentioned a spokesman of the BB, Md Sarwar Hossain, that the expatriates sent a higher volume of remittances in June for Eid-ul-Azha. He also thanked one of the biggest festival. Bangladeshi expatriates sent $21.61 billion in remittance in the last fiscal year FY23 (June-July). In the previous FY it was $21.03 billion.

Inward remittance flow to Bangladesh witnessed a seven-month high in March as expatriate Bangladeshis sent a remarkable amount of greenback worth around $2.02 billion to their near and dear ones centring the upcoming holy Eid-ul-Fitr. Expatriates sent home $2.02 billion last month, the highest since September last year when $1.53 billion flew into the country, data from the Bangladesh Bank showed. The last month's receipts were nearly 29.3 percent higher than February's $1.56 billion and 8.5 percent higher from $1.85 billion recorded in March last year. A central bank official told the national news agency that remittances usually go up before the holy Eid-ul-Fitr, which will be celebrated in this month. The official also said that the latest inflow of remittances would certainly help both the central bank and the government manage the macroeconomic situation.

Last December, Bangladesh achieved $1.7 billion in remittances, which is 4.29% higher than the same period of the previous year. On Sunday, january 01, this information is known from the Central Bank data. In December previous year (2021), Bangladeshi migrant workers sent home $1.63 billion.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Thursday) underlined the need for focusing on export to earn foreign currencies instead of depending on remittance. "We have to more focus on export to earn foreign currencies instead of only depending on remittance," she said. The prime minister also asked all concerned to diversify local products to explore new markets abroad. She was inaugurating 24 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Centennial TTC at the upazila level, joining virtually from her official Ganabhaban residence in the capital. The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) organised the function at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in city. "We have to take initiatives to earn foreign currencies by making local products multidimensional to find out fresh markets abroad," she said. The premier said some people of the country are making illogical comments and spreading rumours about the foreign currency reserve, adding it is common that the reserve would be more or less. "I believe, it is enough to have foreign currency reserve to purchase food for three months," she continued. But, she said Bangladesh has to shrink dependency on other countries for consumer products and food items. "We can utilise properly the people and fertile lands we have. We have to modernise the process of preserving foods and establish food processing industries largely," the prime minister said. In such way, the demand of the local markets would be fulfilled and locally made products can be exported to earn foreign currencies, she added. Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad, its parliamentary affairs committee Chairman Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Secretary Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen and BMET Director General Md Shahidul Alam, spoke on the occasion. A documentary on the TTCs was screened at the function. Source: BSS AH

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the UAE will boost the remittance corridor between the two countries as well as create a supportive environment to build interoperable digital solutions, according to leading financial services company LuLu Financial Holdings. The Abu Dhabi-headquartered LuLu Financial Holdings, which is into cross-border payments among other areas, has substantial investments in the UAE and India. It has presence in 11 countries and manages transactions worth over USD 8 billion annually. The CEPA between India and the UAE was signed on February 18, and came into force from May 1. The agreement covers trade in goods, rules of origin, trade in services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, dispute settlement and digital trade, among other areas.   "The relationship between UAE and India is at the highest peak at this time... there is a lot of interest by UAE companies to invest in India... CEPA is going to be the foundation on which things are going to be built," LuLu Financial Holdings' Managing Director Adeeb Ahamed told PTI. Ahamed, who is in the national capital as part of a high-level UAE delegation visiting India, said it was all about creating that underlying foundation from which many sectors can benefit -- trade, goods, services and digital.   According to him, CEPA will create a supportive environment for investors and existing players in both countries to build interoperable digital solutions keeping the huge potential of the two economies. With the fintech industry growing significantly in India and UAE, he said it was imperative to make payments affordable for the masses and that requires greater access to critical technologies, new investments and homegrown solutions that can enable real-time money transfer on mobile payment solutions. The CEPA, which also considers the prospects of digital trade between the two countries, mentions about offering service providers with an open and non-discriminatory environment for cross-border trade in financial and insurance services. Noting that the agreement represents an ongoing effort to ease the multi-billion trade corridor between the two countries, Ahamed said that from a payments industry perspective, it will help boost the UAE-India remittance corridor. "At USD 20 billion plus, this is the world's second largest corridor after US-Mexico and contributes 33 per cent of the inward remittance volume to India," he pointed out. Creating a favourable ecosystem to serve financial services, will lead to greater data protection, and lower financial crime as well, Ahamed said, adding that both countries might well aspire to become a springboard for companies looking to build meaningful solutions, for both MENA and the South Asian regions. MENA refers to the Middle East and North Africa. With respect to cross-border payments, as per estimates, fees imposed on transactions in the UAE-India corridor is among the lowest globally at around 5.31 per cent, which is below the global average of 6.3 per cent for sending USD 200. Studies have suggested that cutting prices by at least 5 percentage points can save up to USD 16 billion a year in savings globally, and considering the volume of transactions conducted annually, fintech holds the potential to lower transaction costs even further, Ahamed noted. Before signing the pact with the UAE, India had last inked a CEPA with Malaysia back in 2011. The latest CEPA covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by India (11,908 tariff lines) and the UAE (7,581 tariff lines), respectively. India will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 per cent of its tariff lines which account for 99 per cent of Indian exports to the UAE in value terms, according to a release issued by India's commerce and industry ministry in March. India will also be offering preferential access to the UAE on more than 90 per cent of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to the UAE. Yusuffali MA, Chairman of Lulu Group and Vice-Chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, said that with the signing of CEPA, many new avenues of collaborations will open and will benefit businesses from both countries and beyond as UAE is a key gateway to Middle East and Africa. "The current bilateral trade volume of USD 53 billion is expected to double to USD 100 billion in five years". "As a UAE-based business group with a sizeable presence in India, especially in the retail and food processing sectors, we are hoping that our imports from India will see new levels of growth which will further strengthen the food security of UAE," he said in a statement. Source: Economic Times  

Although coronavirus hit every country in the world, Bangladesh sent 6,17,209 workers overseas and received a record $ 22,070.87 million as remittance in 2021. “The trend of overseas employment is satisfactory during the COVID-19 pandemic,” an official of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry told BSS. He said the overall manpower export from Bangladesh is expected to increase gradually although COVID-19 pandemic hit the whole world. Expatriates income declined for six consecutive months due to the second outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even then, a record amount of remittance came to Bangladesh in the year just ended. In 2021, the expatriates sent a record $22,070.87 million to the country. Never before, so much remittance came to the country in a single year.  “We’ve been working to increase number of overseas migrant workers as well as ensure the rights and protection of them following the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” the official said. After assuming office the Awami League government sent 74 lakh 68 thousand 132 workers abroad with jobs from 2009 to 2021. About overseas labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic, the official said, the government collected information about overseas labour market through diplomatic missions. Besides, experts advised the government to invest in developing need-based skilled manpower for the post COVID-19 world as they believe the demand for jobs of nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers would increase in many countries. According to data in the ministry, the government has already set up many training centres in different districts along with skill development programmes to create skilful jobseekers. The government encourages documented overseas employment, as an important component of earning foreign currency. Bangladesh has become the 8th largest remittance-receiving country and the 6th largest migrant-sending country in the world, according to the World Migration Report 2022. The government provided various trainings including diploma in ship building engineering, refrigeration and air-conditioning, general mechanics, electrical machine maintenance, auto CAD 2D and 3D, welding (6G), catering, mason, Korean, Arabic, canton, Japanese language and others. Earlier, the government declared the overseas employment sector as a “thrust sector” with maximum stress on further expanding job markets for the Bangladeshi job seekers abroad. Source: BSS AH

The government has decided to increase the cash incentive on sending remittance to 2.5 percent from the existing 2 percent in order to encourage sending remittances through legal channels.    The decision, which came into effect from today (January 1, 2022), is expected to improve the overall living standards of common people, boosting the foreign currency reserves, checking money laundering, generating employment, said a Finance Ministry press release.    This increase of cash incentives against remittance is a gift from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the expatriate Bangladeshi workers marking the New Year.    The release said the government first decided to provide 2 percent cash incentives against sending remittance in the FY20 which resulted in a healthy inward remittance amount of $18.20 billion which was 13 percent higher than the previous fiscal year (FY19).    In continuation of this, the inward remittance amount was $24.80 billion in the last fiscal year (FY21) which was also 36 percent higher than the previous fiscal year (FY20). Source: BSS AH

Remittance inflows hit a record high of US$24.77 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year (FY21), thanks to the expatriate Bangladeshis for sending money amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Expatriate Bangladeshis sent 36 per cent higher remittance in fiscal 2020-21 compared to the same period in the fiscal 2019-20, when it was $18.20 billion, Bangladesh Bank data shows. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the remittance inflow, one of the main barometers of the economy, dipped from March to May of 2020. “The inflow of remittances shows hit a record high in the current fiscal 2020-21 as the BB has taken measures to streamline the legal channels for encouraging Non Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) to send money to the country,” said BB Chief Spokesperson M Serajul Islam. He said the recent flow of remittance indicates that it is gradually increasing and this trend is likely to continue in the fiscal 2021-22. In FY21, six state-owned commercial banks – Agrani, Janata, Rupali, Sonali, Basic and BDBL – received $6.11 billion while one state-owned specialized bank- Bangladesh Krishi Bank- received $0.41 billion. Of the state-owned banks, Agrani Bank received $2.82 billion, Janata Bank $0.95 billion, Rupali Bank $0.80 billion, Sonali Bank $1.53 billion and Basic Bank received $0.00223 billion. Besides, the expatriates have sent $18.14 billion through private commercial banks. Source: BSS AH

Expatriate Bangladeshis sent US$ 14,907.35 million remittances during the first seven months of the current fiscal 2020- 21, which is apparently 34.95 per cent higher than the same period of the preceding year, according to a Finance Ministry data. The country received $11,046.36 million remittances during July to January in 2019-20 financial year, the data added. Expatriate Bangladeshis sent US$ 1,962.60 million remittances in January of the current fiscal 2020-21, which was $1,638.43 million remittances during the month of January in 2019-20 financial year, the data added. As per the data of the Finance Ministry, the country’s foreign exchange reserves are around US$42.91 billion. The inflow of remittance added to raise the foreign exchange reserve to over 42 billion. Source: BSS AH