$1.74 bn Bangladeshi remittance from US

Bangladeshi expatriates have remitted $1.74 billion from the US in the first nine months of the current financial year.

The money sent by those in the US in the July-March period was more than 15 percent of the total remittances to the country.
 
According to data of the Manpower Employment and Training Bureau, remittances from the US have increased, while those from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and other countries have declined.
 
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman feels that a turnaround in the US economy has led to a greater remittance flow from there.
 
“Effects of the US economic turnaround are being felt in our country, too. Expatriate Bangladeshis are now earning more. Hence, they are able to send more money to the country,” Rahman told bdnews24.com at the end of the World Bank-IMF’s spring meet in Washington.
 
He also felt the country was benefiting from an increase in the number of expatriates in the US and facilities introduced by Bangladesh Bank for quicker transfer of foreign exchange.
 
Rahman also took part in a seminar on remittances organised by the World Bank and the IMF.

The fact that times are changing is also evident from the views of expatriates.

Faruk Ahmed, living in the US for the last 15 years, used to drive taxis before. Now, he drives his own car and hires it out to select customers like the Bangladeshi embassy there.

He earns $700-800 per day after paying all operational costs. Even after bearing family expenses, he still has money to send home.

“Earlier, my income had fallen due to the economic crisis. But now Americans again started spending money... our earnings have also gone up,” a cheerful Ahmed said.

Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) data says there are nearly eight million Bangladeshi expatriates around the world.

Most are engaged in labour-intensive work in the Middle East.

Nearly 100,000 of them live in the US, mostly in New York’s Jackson Heights and Jamaica.

Shibly Mahmud owns the ‘Star Kabab Restaurant and Party Hall’ in Jamaica’s Hillside Avenue. “The number of Bangladeshis in New York is rising day by day. Their earnings are also on the rise.”

Rizvi Newaz Babu, manager of Khan Electronics in Jackson Heights, told bdnews24.com: “Our customers are mostly Bengalis. Earnings are now good.”

US is the third largest source of remittance inflow for Bangladesh, constituting about 15 percent of the total $11.26 billion that comes in.

Records show that remittance from the US in 2009-10 FY was $1.45 billion and rose to $1.85 billion in the next. It dropped to $1.5 billion due to the recession in the 2011-12 FY.

In the last fiscal year, it managed to recover a little, going up to $1.86 billion, and the Bangladesh Bank governor hopes it would exceed $2.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal. 

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Research Director Jayed Bakht said Bangladeshi workers in the Middle East had a relatively lower income compared to those in the US.

“Overall, expatriates in the US earn and spend more. Due to the recession, they could not send money back home. Since the situation is changing, they are sending more,” he said, adding that the stabilisation of the currency market was also a contributing factor.

Meanwhile, data of inflow from Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh’s largest source of remittance, shows a 19 percent fall. The inflow in 2013-14 FY was $3.12 billion, while the fiscal before saw a $3.83 billion remittance. In the first nine months of the current fiscal, the remittance was $2.44 billion, 21 percent of the total inflow during this period.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Mostafizur Rahman attributed the fall to visa complications including Akama or the process of changing jobs.

“Workers had to pay hefty sums to change or renew their job permits. The remittance fell because of that.”

However, inflows from other Middle Eastern countries like the UAE and Kuwait have fallen too.

Remittance in the last fiscal saw a 1.6 percent fall, although it rose by 12 percent in the one before.

But things seem to be looking up, because the remittance flow from the Middle East in the first three quarters of the current fiscal is 7.12 percent higher than that of the same period in the previous fiscal.