Remittance drops for third month in August

A file photo shows incoming passengers being checked with a hand-held scanner at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital amid the global coronavirus outbreak. The inflow of remittance dropped for the third consecutive month in August though the number of overseas employment has started increasing in 2021 compared with that in the previous year amid the reopening of the major destinations for the migrants. — New Age photo

The inflow of remittance dropped for the third consecutive month in August though the number of overseas employment has started increasing in 2021 compared with that in the previous year amid the reopening of the major destinations for the migrants.

According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the remittance earnings of the country dropped by $230.22 million, $69.32 million and $61.38 million in June, July and August respectively.

With the decline, the country’s remittance earnings in August dropped to $1.81 billion in August from $1.87 billion in July.

The country fetched the second highest $2.17 billion in remittance in May 2021 and the amount dropped to $1.94 billion in the next month.

The country received $21.75 billion in remittance in 2020 when the overseas employment of Bangladeshi nationals dropped to 2.17 lakh from 7 lakh in the previous year.

The inflow of remittance reached a record high of $2.6 billion in July 2020.

Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training data showed that the remittance earnings in the first five months of 2021 were $9.89 billion against overseas employment of around 2 lakh Bangladeshi national during the same period.

Some migration experts mentioned that traders of hundi, an illegal way of transferring money that helps money laundering, came to a halt following the Covid outbreak due to movement restrictions in the migration destinations.

Bedsides, a portion of foreign currency retained by the hundi traders are being used to clear import payments, they said.

They said that the country’s import payments have a negative relation with the remittance earnings since a portion of the country’s remittance earnings are being used to clear import payments as a means of money laundering.

Besides the import payments through the formal channel, a large portion of remittance earnings are being used to clear payments against under-invoiced products, experts said.

Former National Board of Revenue chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid, however, told New Age that the question arose why the country’s remittance earnings had been on the decline at a time when overseas employment of the country’s workers increased and normal activities at the destinations where they were migrating had resumed.

The central bank should scrutinise why the inflow of remittance had increased in 2020 when the migration from the country dropped sharply, he said, adding that the digging out of the cause would help them understand the real situation.

Otherwise, it would not be possible to understand who were taking the incentive against remittance, he said.

As per the BB data, Islami Bank Bangladesh brought the highest $508.94 million in remittance to the country followed by Dutch-Bangla Bank $188.09 million, Agrani Bank $162.56 million and Sonali Bank $110.36 million.

Though the country’s trade deficit reached a record high in FY21, the country managed to take its foreign exchange reserve to $48 billion in August from $33 billion before the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

Recently, the central bank has sold $319 million in the interbank money market to contain the appreciation of the dollar.

New Age