Economic Reporter :
Country received $8.63 billion remittances in the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal 2015-16 while it was $8.73 billion during the corresponding period of the last fiscal 2014-15, according to the Bangladesh Bank data released on Tuesday.
The major causes of decreasing the inward remittance are the lower price of petroleum products on the global market.
Remittance declined by 1.04 per cent during this period as oil price drop hits M East countries. “It might put an adverse impact on the country’s socio-economic situation”, experts opined.
A BB official told on Tuesday that it was a matter of concern that the country’s inward remittance had been maintaining a declining trend for the last few months. The inflow of inward remittance puts a positive impact on the country’s socio-economic situation than that of export earnings, he said.
The earnings from the export products are usually enjoyed by some businesspeople and a segment of workers, but the remittance boosts up the country’s rural economy, the official explained.
A large number of rural people are now depending on remittance as they spend their cost of health and education from the remittance inflow, he said.
The BB data showed that the inward remittance also decreased to $1.15 billion in January against $1.24 billion in the same month of the last financial year.
The country’s majority number of the workers is now working in Middle-East and the economies of the region (Middle-East countries) mainly depend on the income of petroleum products, he said.
The lower cost of petroleum products has hit business of the Middle-East, resulting in squeezing of their spending. Many Bangladeshi workers in the Middle-East countries are now being paid lower wages compared with the previous periods due to dull business, the official noted.
