Bangladesh has received USD 357.76 million remittance in the first week of October (2-6), Bangladesh Bank data shows.
Despite hiking cash incentive to 2.5 percent, from 2 percent, in the current fiscal year (2022-23), the inward flow of remittance saw a fall in September. This trend remains so far in October.
Bangladeshi expatriates sent inward remittance of USD 1.54 billion in September, which is the lowest in last 7 months.
After a decline in September, remittance is showing slow pace in October as well. In the first six days of the current month, expatriate income or remittance worth USD 357.7 million came to Bangladesh, said a Bangladesh Bank official.
Bangladesh is receiving, so far, an average of USD 60 million remittance per day through banking channels. If this current trend continues, USD 1.80 billion remittance will be received by the end of this month, the official said.
The fiscal year started with a growth trend in inward remittance while the country received USD 2.09 billion remittance in July and USD 2.03 billion in August. But it fell in September.
Financial sector insiders believe that expatriate prefers Hundi for inward remittance as the exchange rate of the US dollar is Tk 8 to 14 higher in the kerb market.