Remittance falls by 7.4% in Oct

Remittance declined further in October, intensifying the pressure on the government to manage its macroeconomy amid plummeting foreign exchange reserves.

The expatriate Bangladeshis sent home to the tune of $1.52 billion in October, down 7.4 per cent from a year ago and down 1 per cent from September this year, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

The inflow has been facing a downward trend since August, bringing adversity to the country's economic stability as a whole, a central bank official said.

Remittances also decreased by 2.03 per cent year-on-year to $7.19 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

If the declining trend of remittance continues in the days ahead, the ongoing volatility in the foreign exchange market will deepen, the BB official said.

The country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $35.85 billion on October 26 in contrast to $46.49 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The banking regulator should motivate banks to mobilise more remittances with a view to easing the ongoing stress on the foreign exchange market.

The lower inflow of remittances also played a vital role in depreciating the local currency, which stood at Tk 104.34 on October 31, down 22 per cent year-on-year.