Expatriates sent $225 million in May, which is 32.35 percent more than the same period last year. According to Bangladesh Bank data, remittances came in at $1.7 billion during the same period last year. Spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank. Majbaul Haque said that as a result of various initiatives taken by Bangladesh Bank, the expatriate income has increased by 32.35 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. According to the data of the central bank, remittances increased by 10.29 percent in May compared to the previous month of April.

According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, in total, in the first 11 months of the current financial year, 2 thousand 137 million dollars remittances have come. 1 thousand 941 million dollars came in the same period of the last financial year. And the amount of remittance in the entire financial year was 2 thousand 161 million dollars. With a month to go, the remittances are almost equal to the previous financial year. And up to last May, it increased to 196 million dollars, which is more than 10 percent. Last April, expatriates sent $204 million through banking channels. 1.69 billion dollars came in the same month of the previous year. Generally remittance increases every year before Eid.

When asked to know, Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director of Mutual Trust Bank, said that the difference in bank rates with informal channels has reduced a lot. Banks are trying hard to increase remittances in the current situation. This increases remittances.

It is learned that banks are now buying remittances from foreign exchange houses at rates up to 118 taka 30 paisa. Expatriate beneficiaries are getting Rs. 117. Along with this two and a half percent government incentive is getting like 120 rupees. Earlier the price was fixed at Tk 110 but the banks used to buy at Tk 113-115. Cost of imports increased further due to increase in export and remittance rates. At this time of inflation of 10 percent, the pressure on people may increase.

Bankers have doubts about how long remittances will increase if effective measures are not taken to prevent money laundering. The managing director of a private bank said that those who take money outside the country through corruption or revenue evasion, the price is not an issue for them. So to increase the remittance in the banking channel, we have to be strict against money laundering and hundi. Instead of doing that, just increasing the price will increase the pressure on the common people. Apart from this, initiatives should be taken to bring the export income to the country on time. Apart from this, reserves should be stabilized in various ways including long-term foreign loans.

According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, the foreign exchange reserves decreased continuously to 18.72 billion dollars last May 29. Reserves at the end of April last month were 19.96 billion dollars. At the end of last December, it was 21.87 billion dollars. Earlier in the history of the country, the highest reserve record of 48 billion dollars was recorded in August 2021. Despite import controls in various ways, the central bank is selling a lot of dollars from reserves. Basically, the private sector does not get new loans, on the contrary, it has to repay the previous liabilities. Many are recouping previous investments. Due to these reasons, there has been a financial deficit of 9.26 billion dollars till last March. Last financial year where the deficit was 2.93 billion dollars. Before this there was usually always a fiscal surplus.