Inward remittances fall by 1.26 percent year-on-year
Published : 02 Apr 2024, 12:34 AM
Bangladeshi expatriates have sent over $1.99 billion in March, the lowest in three months.
The inward remittances last month, which ended just 10 days before Eid-ul-Fitr, were also 1.26 percent lower than the funds received in the same month last year, Bangladesh Bank data showed on Monday.
Remittances were below the $2 billion mark for the last time in December. The amount reached $2.11 billion in January and $2.16 billion in February.
Despite the fall in March, remittances in the first nine months of the current fiscal year saw a nearly 6.5 percent growth to $17 billion.
Central bank officials hope remittances will rise again in April ahead of the Eid.
To encourage expatriate workers to send remittances home through official channels, the government has offered cash incentives and eased rules.
When these initiatives seemed to have relatively little impact on inflows, economists and central bank officials blame illegal channels to send money and the gap in dollar rates between banks and the open market for Bangladesh’s failure to get more remittances.