Inward remittances continue to break record

Bangladeshis living overseas sent over $1.21 billion back to their home country in just 15 days of November, a development that has excited the finance minister as he thinks it will help the nation recover from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The finance ministry, in a statement issued on Monday, termed it as a rare growth in the history of Bangladesh.

So far, this fiscal year — from July 1 to November 15 — inward remittances stood at $10 billion, up over 42% than the $7.03 billion for the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Bangladeshi migrant workers remitted $2.11 billion in October 2020, up from $1.64 billion which came into the country during the same month a year ago.

October's receipts were the third-highest monthly flow in history, behind July's $2.59 billion and September's $2.15 billion.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal thanked and expressed his gratitude to the expatriates in this regard.

"The impact of Covid-19 has thrown the global economy into a serious crisis. Our remitters have become the drivers to keep our economy on track,” Kamal said.

The finance minister said the 2% cash incentive offered against inward remittances has been working well.

after that, when remittances started to increase, many people started saying that this is not right and will not be sustainable, he said.

Even the international organisations had started saying the inflow of remittance did not reflect the right situation.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has diverted inflow of remittances from informal to formal channels, according to the World Bank.

In April, the multinational lender had said money sent by migrant workers to Bangladesh is projected to be at $14 billion in 2020.

The rising inflow from May led the WB to forecast on Friday that inbound remittance would accelerate by about 8% to $19.8 billion this year.