Expatriate income increased in banking channel
October 4, 20243 Mins Read
Jumbangla Desk: Remittance inflows to Bangladesh increased by 1.07 billion or 107 million dollars in September, marking a year-on-year growth of 80.22 percent. According to Bangladesh Bank data, the country received a total of $2.40 billion in remittances last month, which was $1.33 billion in the same month last year. In addition, remittances in September increased by $180 million compared to last month, which is considered the highest inflow in the last three months.

Remitance

Bankers say that expatriates have reduced sending remittances in hundi since the formation of the new government. Now they are sending remittances through banking channels even though they are standing in queues. Due to which the expatriate income of the country is increasing to a large extent. They also said that the increase in remittances has stabilized the dollar market and since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, the dollar exchange rate has remained stable at Tk 120 to the taka. Earlier there was a consistent difference of Rs 3 to 4 between bank and curb market. But now both the market rates have merged. At present, the country's foreign reserves amount to 19.56 billion dollars. According to a senior official of Jamuna Bank, one of the main reasons for the increase in remittances through banking channels is the narrowing of the rate differential between formal and informal markets. He noted that with the encouragement of the new government, expatriates are actively sending remittances through formal channels, which is contributing to the increase in remittances through banking channels.

The remittance rate of the banks
is known to talk with the treasury head officers of some banks, currently expatriates are buying at 120 rupees per dollar in the banking channel. While the rate remained stable in the first three weeks of September, expatriates claimed remittances around Rs 120.5 in the last week. Currently the crawling peg rate is Tk 121 and banks are charging Tk 121 for letter of credit. On the other hand exporters are getting Rs 119 per dollar for export flow. An official said, 'The payment overdues we have due to foreign banks are gradually decreasing. Inter bank dollar transactions of our banks are regular. Due to which government banks are paying their overdue payments with dollar support from other banks. A senior Bangladesh Bank official said many banks have positive net open positions (NOPs) of dollars. That is, the dollar flow is more than the amount of liabilities of the banks.

He also said, 'In the next 2 months, the overdue payments of foreign banks will come down. Apart from this, if the flow of remittances increases further, the dollar market will return to a completely normal position.

Agrani Bank received the highest amount of remittances
of $322 million among the state-owned banks in September. Then Rupali Bank received 113 million dollars. Apart from this, Islami Bank received the highest remittance of 402 million dollars among the private banks. After that, a remittance of 245 million dollars came to Trust Bank. Apart from this, remittances of 109 million dollars have come through Bangladesh Krishi Bank among the specialized banks this month.

Remittances fell in July due to bank closures for a few days amid student protests. Again, there was a massive campaign to prevent the government from sending remittances through banking channels for non-cooperation. Due to these reasons, remittance decreases. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina, expatriates again started sending remittances through banking channels. As a result, the amount of remittances in August increased to more than 2 billion dollars. Expatriates sent a total of $2.5 billion in remittances in June, largely due to the increase in remittance flows from the central bank by 7 rupees per dollar in May and an increase in remittance flows ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.