Remittance in Bangladesh crossed $30 billion for the first time and rose by a record $6.4 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25.
Remittance inflows crossed the $30 billion mark on Saturday, two days before the fiscal year is due to end, making it the highest receipts yet in Bangladesh’s history.
The concept of remittances is not new. Migrant labourers sending money home dates back to colonial times.
Bangladesh recorded a sharp rise in remittance inflows in May, as migrant workers sent more money home in the run-up to Eid-ul-Azha, which falls in early June.
Bangladeshi migrants sent home $2.75 billion in the month
Migrants sent home $2.6 billion in the first 29 days of April
SM Faruqi Hasan, founding president of the Ontario unit of the Awami League, is involved in the case
Remittances have become a much-anticipated relief for the economy reeling under macroeconomic stress, growing steadily since August last year and providing the interim government with a breather amid a rapid erosion of foreign exchange reserves.
Migrants sent home $2.52 billion in February
However, November’s inflow of $2.2 billion was 8.16% lower than the previous month
Migrant Bangladeshis sent home $2.39 billion in October
Many are sympathetic towards migrant workers for justifiable reasons.
After hovering around the $21-billion mark for the previous two fiscal years, total remittances sent home by Bangladesh’s migrant workers reached nearly $24 billion in the just concluded fiscal year of 2023-24, providing some breathing space amid the forex crunch.
Bangladesh received the highest remittance from the United Arab Emirates in the first 10 months of the outgoing fiscal year, well ahead of traditional powerhouses such as Saudi Arabia and the United States, central bank figures showed.
Economic, political failures major drivers behind the surge
Bangladesh's economy heavily depends on garment exports and remittances for its foreign exchange reserves, with limited diversification in agricultural products. Despite being an agrarian society, it imports key agriculture-related products, straining reserves.
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Suspicious transaction and activity reporting shot up 65 percent year-on-year to 14,106, with 91 percent of the reports filed by scheduled banks, according to the annual report of BFIU
Migrant workers sent home $2.1 billion in January
