Bangladesh. Strong dollar prompts remittance to increase by 10% in 8 months

Monthly remittance inflow posted a healthy growth of 14.68% in February

Amid depreciation of the taka against the dollar, inflow of remittances rose by 9.94% in July-February in the current fiscal year compared with that of the same period of last year, which prompted expatriate Bangladeshis to send money home.

Bangladesh Bank data released on Sunday showed remittance inflow rose to $10.40 billion in the first eight months of the fiscal year 2018-2019 against $9.46 billion in July-February of FY18.

Monthly remittance inflow posted a healthy growth of 14.68% in February rising to $1.32 billion from $1.15 billion in February a year ago as the taka lost more grounds against the dollar in the month.

Remittance inflow started to pick up pace in recent months due mainly to transfer of fund by the expatriates through the legal banking channel amid rising value of the dollar.

Bank officials said that the exchange rate gap between the illegal channel or hundi and the legal channel had declined in recent months.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. Read full article here