Bangladesh's remittance nosedives 14.5% to six-year low in FY2017

Bangladesh's fiscal 2016-17 has ended with a sharp decline in the inflow of money sent by migrant workers.

They remitted nearly $12.77 billion in the last fiscal year, which is a six-year low.

The amount dipped around 14.5 percent from the previous financial year.

The money sent by expatriate Bangladeshis had been hovering over $14 billion annually since 2012-13 fiscal year. It crossed the $15 billion mark in fiscal 2014-15.

 

The remittances in the last two months of 2016-17 fiscal year were higher than the previous months, but not enough to push the total annual amount.

Due to the Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr, remittances received in May and June went up to $1.26 billion and $1.21 billion respectively.

The figure dropped below the $1 billion mark in November and December, and to a five-year low for a single month in February.

Worried over the falling trend of remittance, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has announced a plan to charge no fees from the expatriates for sending money.

"Remittance has dropped in all the countries. We are not alone. All our indices other than the remittance are doing good. Raising remittance is our major challenge now," he told bdnews24.com recently.