Al Amin :
Ending all speculations of the organisations of local and abroad, Bangladesh sees remittance inflow reaching record levels in September despite global economic downturn due to the ongoing pandemic.
Recently Fitch Ratings Inc, a US-based credit rating agency, forecasts that the annual remittance inflow of five Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines may drop by 12 per cent on an average, to be regarded as a threat to the earnings of a sizeable amount of remittance earnings this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank projected a 20 per cent fall.
Economists, however, said stopping illegal channel and incentive of remittance are playing vital role to increase the record remittance inflow.
Another two reasons are the illegal migrants, those are apprehended that they have to return to Bangladesh any time due to the global economic downturn, are sending all of their earnings part-by-part and many businesses are buying remittance to get incentives, they said.
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI), told The New nation, “The inflow of remittance, like imports and exports, was expected to fall amid the ongoing pandemic. It did not happen, which is good for our economy.”
He also apprehended that the reality may become more difficult as many illegal expatriates are returning to the country.
Md Serajul Islam, Executive Director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said, “Two per cent incentive on remittance and various steps taken by Bangladesh Bank to stop hundi are reasons behind the remittance inflow.”
Mahbubul Alam, Managing Director and CEO of Islam Bank Bangladesh Ltd, “Remittance inflow has increased as the expatriates have nearly stopped sending money through all illegal channels like Hundi after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.” Incentive on remittance is also one of the main reasons behind the uptrend, he added.
After the outbreak of the pandemic, over 100,000 expatriates have returned to Bangladesh from, the KSA, the UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, France, Italy, Bahrain, and other countries.
Ignoring all adverse situations, the expatriates have clocked a new record by sending over $6.71 billion in the July-September period in the midst of the pandemic.
The amount is 48.57 percent more than the money received in the same period in last year.
In September alone, the expatriates remitted more than $2.15 billion, the second highest in a month after $2.6 billion in July.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal recently hoped that the remittance inflow in 2020-21 fiscal year might be $24 billion or even more.
He thanked the migrant workers, saying that they have helped the government muster the courage to tackle the pandemic crisis.
Kamal also credited once again the two percent incentives on remittance and ease of rules needing to fill in forms.
He pointed out that Bangladesh Bank’s foreign currency reserves have crossed $39 billion for the first time due to the high inflow of remittances.
The figure was 72.65 percent higher than $534 million during the same time in September last year, according to data from the central bank.
In July, remittance receipt was $2.6 billion, which was the single month’s highest inflow in the history. In August, the country received $1.96 billion in remittance.
According to data from the central bank, during the January-August period this year, the country received $13.36 billion in remittance, while the total receipt in 2019 was $18.35 billion.