In July, inward remittances fell to a 10-month low, with expats sending Bangladesh close to $1.91 billion over the course of the month.
On Thursday, the central bank made the remittance updates public. Remittances below the present amount were last received by the nation in September of previous year, when they were $1.33 billion.
Due to the difficulties arising from the quota reform campaign, all banks were closed from July 19 to July 23. Additionally, mobile internet was suspended for ten days and broadband internet services for five days.
Remittances from overseas workers totaled $2.54 billion in June, indicating a strong inflow of funds. After $2.59 billion in July 2020, it was the greatest monthly sum in the previous three years.
Holding steady, the first three weeks of July saw an average inflow of $400 to $500 million per week, culminating in a total of $1.42 billion by July 20. The expats sent home $479 million in total during the next 11 days of the month, with $120 million coming in on July 31 alone.
Some officials of the Bangladesh Bank said the banks are required to disburse remittances within 24 hours of receipt. However, there might be a delay of two to three days if overseas remittance houses hold onto the funds.
In response to the declining remittance, the central bank recently summoned managing directors of the country’s top 12 banks and urged them to focus on increasing expatriate income, even at higher costs.
Banks were previously collecting remittances at Tk 117 to 118 per dollar. Following the instruction, the exchange rate for remittances rose to Tk 120 per dollar.
The central bank has also taken a set of measures to increase remittances and other overseas income. According to sources, the Bangladesh Bank relaxed its monitoring on fixing the exchange rate and execution of other rules and regulations.
