Remittance falls in Jan
Bangladesh received $1.15 billion in remittance in January, which is 7.25 percent lower than the same month a year ago.
Compared with December, the remittance receipt in the first month of the year went down 12.21 percent, according to data from the central bank.
A Bangladesh Bank official said low oil prices have hit the incomes of Middle Eastern countries where most of Bangladesh's migrant workers reside.
“Many projects have stalled. Many projects have been suspended. The income of our workers has gone down,” he said.
The devaluation of currencies from countries such as Australia, the UK, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia against the dollar also hit Bangladesh's remittance income, according to the official.
“We will have to wait for a few months to know the exact reason for the decrease in remittance in January,” Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman told The Daily Star.
He, however, said the small decrease would not hurt the healthy foreign currency reserves, standing at over $27 billion, as growing exports and reduction in the cost of imports are offsetting the fall.
Remittance also fell 1.04 percent year-on-year to $8.64 billion in the last seven months of the current fiscal year.
Migrant workers sent home $15.31 billion in remittance in the last fiscal year, the highest in the country's history.
Comments