Remittance rises 15pc
Inward remittances edged up 14.67 percent last month, compared to the same month a year ago, thanks to the continuous depreciation of the taka against the US dollar.
"Many banks are offering remitters higher rates than the existing average bills for collection (BC) selling rate," said Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of Dhaka Bank.
Subsequently in February, expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $1.32 billion in contrast to $1.15 billion one year earlier, according to the latest data from the central bank.
Last month many banks offered between Tk 86 and Tk 87 per dollar to the remitters to encourage them in sending the greenback home through their respective foreign exchange houses, an official at a commercial bank said.
The BC selling rate, used for import payments, which put a positive impact on the inflow, hovered between Tk 84 and Tk 84.20 per dollar last month. One year ago, the rate was between Tk 82.95 and Tk 83. The inter-bank exchange rate stood at Tk 84.15 on February 27, up from Tk 82.96 a year earlier.
Banks have been forced to offer the higher rates to the remitters for mobilising foreign exchange in order to meet up their import obligation, said Rahman, also chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh, a platform of the managing directors of commercial banks.
February's receipts take the remittance inflows in the first eight months of the fiscal year to $10.40 billion, up 9.15 percent year-on-year.
Rahman added that the central bank has recently taken various measures to curb remittance through illegal channels, which also gave a boost to the inflow.
Comments