Inward remittance flow to return to normal in 3 months: Finance minister
The minister says stranded Bangladeshi expatriates are now returning to their work stations
Highlights
- Remittance logged US$25 billion-mark last year
- This year's amount likely to be around $23 billion
- Expats sent $1.73 billion home in Sep this year
- They remitted $2.15 billion in Sep last year
Amid falling remittance earnings in recent months, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal Wednesday said that inward remittance flow should increase gradually and earnings could return to normal in three months.
"It's true that inward remittance flow during the July-September period was less compared to the same period of last year. But we hope that it will return to normal gradually and increase further," he said.
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Citing a reason for fall in remittance flow, Kamal said that not all the expatriate Bangladeshis who returned home during the pandemic could go abroad, but they are doing so now.
"I don't see any other reason except for this…Remittance basically comes from the expatriates; they are now going abroad and hopefully the situation will return to normalcy within the next three months," he said.
The finance minister made the comments Wednesday while replying to a question after chairing two separate meetings on the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase.
After the fall in remittance earnings, many analysts apprehend that if the downward trend continues, the country's foreign exchange reserve may witness a decline.
The finance minister said the country witnessed a robust inward remittance flow of around US$25 billion last year adding, "Assessing the current pace of inward remittance flow, we can see that it will not reach below $22 billion this year and is more likely to reach $23 billion."
Bangladeshi expatriates sent home $1.73 billion in September this year compared to $2.15 billion in September 2020.
The amount remitted in September this year was also 4.63% lower than the August earnings.
From July to September of the current fiscal year (FY22), the total remittance inflow was $5.40 billion, down from US$6.71 billion sent home during the same period of the last fiscal year (FY21).
