Bangladeshi migrants sent $1.86 billion to home in March ahead of Ramadan this year, which is 25% more than the previous month and also the highest in the past eight months.
As the virus situation started to normalise in mid 2021, the remittance tonic that largely helped the country's economy recover from the pandemic started to decline gradually. Remittance in February this year was $1.49 billion – the lowest in the past 21 months.
People concerned say several government incentives and normalised migration pushed up the remittance inflow apart from the Ramadan – the month of fasting and Eid festival. They also insisted that the inflow will remain high in upcoming months too.
Remittances have been declining since June last year as the pandemic waned. After a six-month downturn, the inflow rose slightly in December and January, and then fell again to $1.09 billion in February this year.
The government has set a target of $26 billion remittance earning for the 2021-22 fiscal year. After the first nine months of the current fiscal year, 57.69% of the target was met so far as remittance inflow stood at $15.29 billion – more than 17% less than the corresponding period of previous year's $18.59 billion.
Meanwhile, the government has raised the cash incentive on remittance to 2.50% from the previous 2%. Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said Bangladeshi migrants sent their savings to their families back home during the pandemic.
"Now they are sending more ahead of Ramadan and Eid. This stream could persist for the next couple of months," he told The Business Standard. He also attributed increased incentive to higher remittance flow. In March, $391 million in remittances came through Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited.
The bank's Managing Director Mohammed Monirul Moula said, "Remittance inflow increases on the occasion of Ramadan and Eid. Besides, we have launched an app enabling instant money transfer from any country. These would increase the remittance inflow further."
