Tk. 21 thousand 181 crore remittance received in November
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Pic: Collected
The decision to depreciate the dollar has had an impact on expatriate income. In the recent month of November, Bangladeshi expatriates living in different countries sent remittances worth 193 million dollars. In Bangladeshi currency the amount is Tk. 21 thousand 181 crore 75 lakh (equal to 109 taka 75 paisa per dollar). In the previous month (October), expatriates sent remittances worth 197 million 75 million dollars.
This information is known from the updated report published by Bangladesh Bank on Sunday (December 3).
According to the central bank data, the largest number of remittances in November came through private commercial banks. Through 41 banks of this sector, expatriate income came to 172 million 66 million dollars which is 89.46 percent of the total remittance sent in a month. In November, remittances through five state-owned banks reached 144.42 million dollars. At this time remittances equivalent to 53.1 million dollars came through the specialized Bangladesh Agricultural Bank. And through 6 foreign banks operating in the country, expatriates sent remittances of 5.9 million dollars.
Among private commercial banks, Community Bank and Citizen Bank could not collect remittances last month. Expatriates did not send remittances through the state-owned Bangladesh Development Bank. Among the foreign banks, Habib Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and State Bank of India could not bring in expatriate income to the country in November.
Bank officials said that the banks are able to buy dollars at a higher price to overcome the crisis. With the government's 2.5 percent incentive on expatriate income, banks are able to buy dollars at an additional 2.5 percent higher price. Now remittances in the country through legal channels are getting a total incentive of 5 percent. As a result, every dollar of expatriate income is now available at Tk. 115.
Meanwhile, in the first month of the current fiscal year 2023-24, remittances came in 197 million dollars. After that, expatriate income decreased for two consecutive months. 1.6 billion dollars came last August due to the dollar crisis. And in the month of September, expatriate income suffered a major setback. In that month, the lowest expatriate income in the last 3 and a half years or 41 months came to Bangladesh, amounting to 1.34 billion dollars. Earlier, in April 2020, 109 million remittances came. Then came 197 million dollars in October.
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, there has been a dollar crisis in the country. Since then, due to dollar-crisis with commercial banks, Bangladesh Bank has been selling dollars from the reserve in order to keep the import of energy and daily commodities normal. This increases the pressure on the reserves.
According to the data, Bangladesh Bank sold 13.58 billion or 1 thousand 358 million dollars from reserves in the financial year 2022-23. And in the 5 months of the current fiscal year 2023-24, more than 6 billion dollars have been sold from the reserve. In this, the reserve has decreased by more than 6 billion in 6 months. In other words, 1.2 billion dollars is decreasing from the reserve every month.
At the beginning of the last financial year, Bangladesh Bank imposed strict conditions on imports when there was a dollar crisis in the country. At this time, 100% margin is given on the import of luxury goods, except for everyday goods. This reduces settlement and payment of LCs.
