Govt moves to curb hundi in remittance
The government has moved to bring remittance entering the country through mobile financial services under a regulatory framework of the central bank to curb hundi.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the government would formulate a policy after holding meetings with the Bangladesh Bank, bKash and other stakeholders with an aim to recognise the inflow of remittance through channels other than banking sector.
“The aim will be to ensure a win-win situation in which no one is affected, and the inflow of remittance will not stop,” he told reporters after a meeting of the National Economic Council yesterday.
As remittance has declined drastically recently, the government is taking initiatives to encourage expatriates to send money through the banking channels.
In 2015-16, it went down by 2.52 percent from the previous fiscal year. In the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, it fell by around 17 percent.
Citing a survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Kamal said one of the causes for the decline in remittance through official channels was the increase in the flow through unofficial channels, including Western Union, bKash and hundi.
Banks used to channel 67.32 percent of the remittance flowing into the country in 2013, according to the survey. But it came down to 50.72 percent in 2016.
Mobile banking, which includes bKash, fetched 14.31 percent of the remittance last year, while it was nil in 2013.
Some 12.31 percent remittance was sent through the unofficial hundi channel in 2016, increased by more than two percentage point from 2013.
Money transfer companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram fetched 12.66 percent of the money remitted last year, which was 8.52 percent three years ago.
Kamal said remittance was entering the country through Western Union and bKash, which is again going to recipients through mobile financial services.
But this is not included in the central bank's accounts where the figures of the remittance moving through official channels are recorded.
“Unfortunately, the remittance which came through these channels has not been included in the central bank accounts,” he observed.
“So, only on the basis of remittance coming through the banking channels it cannot be said that the total remittance is actually decreasing.”
Under the planned policy, mobile financial services will notify the central bank when money enters Bangladesh through their channels. Then they will send the money to the beneficiaries.
The matter was discussed with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister AMA Muhith, said the planning minister.
The government is going to take two steps: first, it would recognise the money that comes through mobile financial services, and, second, the government would take alternative measures to discourage hundi.
The minister also talked about bKash which said no remittance had come through its channel.
“If bKash says this, will anybody believe?” asked Kamal. “That is not the issue though. We want bKash to do better business.
“We do not want to close their business; rather we will formulate regulations so that they can do business in a better way.”
bKash CEO Kamal Quadir told The Daily Star that there was no bKash agent abroad. Some fake agents were abusing bKash name, he added.
“We welcome the government's policy initiative and would like to work with commercial banks to bring remittance,” he noted.
He said bKash would work as last mile solution provider partnering with the commercial banks and distribute the remittance across the country.
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