Dhaka and Chattogram, two major divisions of Bangladesh, received 80 percent of the total remittance of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, reflecting a regional disparity.

Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali today told the parliament from July to July to January of the current financial year (2023-24), the country received some $12.9 billion ($12, 900.63 million) in remittances

To honour the contributions of migrant workers to the country’s GDP growth and their role in enriching foreign currency reserves, The Daily Star and BRAC have jointly initiated the “Remittance Award”.

The Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today sought innovative suggestions from economists and sector experts to identify the reasons why inward remittance flow is not growing to the expected level, despite massive manpower exports and many students staying back and working abroad

Migrant workers sent $21.61 billion to Bangladesh in the just-concluded fiscal year as remittance rebounded on the back of higher flow on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha and a record outflow of labourers, official figures showed yesterday

The government is contemplating increasing the incentive on remittance, said Planning Minister MA Mannan today

Remittance flow to Bangladesh is projected to drop by $1 billion to $21 billion this year from $22 billion last year, according to the World Bank.

The “City Remit” mobile app has been launched to make it easier for expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittances through the legal route in Malaysia.

Despite a surge in the outflow of migrant workers, remittances to Bangladesh declined 11 percent year-on-year to $1.54 billion in September, the lowest in seven months.

The number of Bangladeshi workers who headed to the Middle East countries in search of jobs surged 177 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2022, official figures showed.    

Remittance to Bangladesh rose to an eight-month high in March as migrant workers sent home a higher amount to help their families meet an increased expenditure during Ramadan, officials data showed.

The government has increased cash incentive on remittance to 2.5 per cent from 2 per cent to encourage migrants to use proper channels to send money home.

The flow of remittance to Bangladesh went down heavily in November as many expatriate Bangladeshis continue to prefer the informal channel in sending their money.

Remittances have multipurpose positive effects on rural economies, which enhances Bangladesh’s inclusive growth, according to economists.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ahmed Jamal, from Barishal, was working as a labourer in Oman since 2018. He was forced to return to Bangladesh during the pandemic. As a result, he lost his primary source of income along with the hefty recruitment fee he had paid to secure the job initially.

Remittance flow into Bangladesh will turn around in the long term helped by the rapid expansion of fin-tech-based companies despite the ongoing hiccups facing the key source of foreign currency for the country.

Engaging the country’s vast number of migrant workers and non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) in the national development process could open up a new area of economic development.

The inflow of remittance has been shrinking since the last several months as the number of people, going abroad, is decreasing and money transfers through informal channels like hundi are increasing with the ease of pandemic restrictions.

The flow of remittance to Bangladesh shrank further in October as money transfers through informal channels such as hundi might have returned with the ease of pandemic restrictions. Expatriate Bangladeshis sent $1.65 billion in October, down 4.6 per cent from one month earlier and 21.7 per cent year-on-year, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.

Remittance inflow has declined by 8 per cent year-on-year to $1.8 billion in August, lowest in six months due to money transfer through informal channels termed like hundi, increased, bankers said.