Bangladesh remittances fall 15% year on year in FY22

Remittance inflow in 2021-22 fiscal year has fallen by 15.12 percent year on year to $21.03 billion ducking a raft of government measures to encourage the Bangladeshi expatriates after a record $24.77 billion received in FY21 amid the pandemic.

With Eid-ul-Azha slated for Jul 10, officials expected high remittances in June, but the money sent by the expatriates last month saw a 5.33 percent decrease to $1.83 billion.

The fall in remittances, coupled with high import costs due to a price rise in the international market amid the Russia-Ukraine war, has impacted the value of the Bangladeshi taka heavily.

Analyst Ahsan H Mansur thinks the high difference between the taka-dollar exchange rates in the open market and in the banks, and the efforts to keep dollar prices down led to the fall in remittances.

“The illegal channels of remittances were closed during the pandemic. Travel was restricted also. Therefore, the demand for the dollar slipped.

“Now the use of the dollar has increased as the restrictions have been lifted.”