Remittance flow went up slightly in November but it still hovered around lower-than-expected $1.5 billion that Bangladesh received in the previous two months, official figures showed yesterday.  

Money transferred by Bangladeshi workers living abroad stood at $1.59 billion last month, up 4.5 per cent on October and 2.64 per cent from a year earlier, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

Remittance receipts were $1.54 billion in September and $1.52 billion in October.

Between July and November, remittance inflow stood at $8.60 billion, down 2.14 per cent year-on-year.

Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, calls the remittance trend quite disappointing.

His frustration came as large number of migrant workers have gone abroad in search of jobs in recent months, a development that was expected to give a much-needed boost to remittances, the cheapest source of foreign currencies for Bangladesh.

More than 7.84 lakh male and female workers went to various countries from Bangladesh between January and August, up 191 per cent year-on-year. Of them, around 7 lakh, or 90 per cent of the total, went to the Middle East, data from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training showed.

According to Rahman, many expatriate Bangladeshis are sending their earnings to the country through hundi, an illegal cross-border foreign exchange system, to get a better rate of the US dollar compared to the rates offered by banks.

The lower inflow of remittances has already created pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves, which have been facing stress due to the volatility in the foreign exchange market.

The reserves slipped below $34 billion on Wednesday as the central bank continues to inject dollars into the market to help banks clear import bills. It was $44.9 billion a year ago.

Since July 2022, the central bank has sold around $6 billion on the interbank market to contain the volatility amidst a shortage of the US dollar.

Rahman urged the central bank to take quick measures in order to find out why remittances are facing a sluggish trend.

He suggested the central bank send special teams to the countries that are the major source of remittances for Bangladesh.

Currently, one crore Bangladeshi migrants are working in the world.