Bangladesh fetched US dollar 16.69 billion remittances in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (July-February of 2020-21), rising by 33.51 per cent or $4.19 billion compared to that in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
However, nearly $12.50 billion was sent back by Bangladeshis staying abroad during the July-February period of FY 2019-20, Bangladesh Bank data showed.
The volume of inward remittance in February 2021 was recorded at $1.78 billion compared to over $1.45 billion in February 2020. Due to fewer working days in February 2021, the inflow was $181.32 million lower than that of $19.62 billion in the previous month of January.
Remittance inflows continued to shrivel in February with the return to normalcy of air travel, which roused the informal channels for sending money back to action.In February, the inflows were 9.2 percent lower from the previous month. However, the inflows last month were 22.6 percent higher than a year earlier.
The collapse of the informal channels like the hundi system, an illicit cross-border transaction network, thanks to the travel ban brought on by the pandemic was one of the reasons for the record remittance received in 2020 despite migrants returning home in hordes, said Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office. But now, the informal channels are recovering as most of the countries have withdrawn the travel ban.
A total of 408,408 migrant workers returned home from 29 countries after they lost their jobs following the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training. Besides, some 5.5 lakh aspirants who were expected to migrate with jobs through the normal process during the time did not have the opportunity. Then another 1.5 lakh-odd workers could not return to their workplaces after ending their vacation at home, said migration officials and researchers.As per the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the country received $16.7 billion in remittance during the July-February period of the fiscal year, up 33.6 percent year-on-year.
With the growing inflow of remittance, the country’s foreign exchange reserve reached a record high at $44.03 billion on February 25, 2021. As a result of the latest development, the country’s reserve has increased by $11 billion since the outbreak of coronavirus.
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