The remittance inflow is set to cross $13 billion mark at the end of the current fiscal year as the amount has already reached $12.54 billion till June 22 this year, Bangladesh Bank (BB) sources said.

The country, however, fetched $11.6 billion as remittance in 2010-11 fiscal.

A BB official said the growth in remittance was driven by a couple of factors including migration of a large number of workers and also some regulatory measures.

“The inward remittance is expected to exceed $13 billion mark at the end of June 2012 as banks are relentlessly working to mobilise more foreign currencies from Bangladeshi workers abroad by offering hassle-free and low-cost money transfer,” said the BB official, seeking anonymity.

He also informed that BB governor Atiur Rahman himself is constantly monitoring the situation.

“If any single remitter faces problems with any bank, the governor has constant directives on us to resolve the problem rapidly,” the official said. BB data shows that migrant workers have so far remitted $767.49 million this month.

Remittance inflow reached $1.15 billion in May this year, up by 15.30 percent compared to $998.42 million in the same period a year ago.

Traditionally, the Middle East countries are the major sources of remittance inflow to Bangladesh. During the July-May period of the current fiscal, the country received $3.38 billion as remittance from Saudi Arabia, $2.20 billion from United Arab Emirate (UAE) and $1.09 billion from Kuwait, according to BB data.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd (IBBL) handled the largest amount of remittance among the country’s public and private commercial banks during the last few years.

The bank channeled $3.19 billion during the July-May period of 2011-12 fiscal.

In FY 2010-11 and FY 2009-10, the bank handled inward remittance of $3.0 billion and $2.9 billion respectively.

State-owned Sonali Bank Ltd, Agrani Bank Ltd and Janata Bank Ltd channeled $1.16 billion, $1.14 billion and $913.05 million respectively in July-May period of 2011-12 fiscal, according to BB data.

Sources said state-owned Rupali Bank is in the process to accelerate remittance by expanding its overseas operation and getting new agreements with authorised dealer banks in the destination countries.

Among the private banks, National Bank, BRAC Bank, Pubali Bank, South East Bank, Uttara Bank, The City Bank, NCC Bank, Bank Asia, Prime Bank and AB Bank also extended their efforts to secure bigger amount of remittance in the days to come.

Participation of foreign banks in remittance handling has been low over the years. In July-May period of the outgoing fiscal, all nine foreign banks together channeled only $205 million. Of the amount, the stake of the HSBC Bank is $103 million, followed by Standard Chartered Bank’s $90 million.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 27th June 2012