In addition to achieving higher export earnings, the country witnessed a 44 percent growth in remittance earnings during the first quarter of 2008-09 fiscal year compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Due to the steady trend in remittance earnings, Bangladesh for the third time ever reached $800 million mark in remittance earnings in a single month. Bangladeshi workers living abroad sent home $802.58 million in September.
The other records of remittance earnings in a single month are $820.71 million in July and $808.72 million in March this year.
A surge in manpower exports last year and the Eid and Durga Puja festivals contributed to the boom in remittance earnings in the first quarter, a high official of Bangladesh Bank said.
A total of 9,81,102 Bangladeshi people went abroad in 2007-08 fiscal year which is about 74 percent above the previous fiscal year figure. A total of 5,63,584 people went abroad in the 2006-07 fiscal year, Bangladesh Bank statistics show.
According to the statistics, on monthly average basis more than 81,000 Bangladeshis went abroad in 2007-08 fiscal year. The figure was 46,000 in the previous fiscal year.
Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) sent $2.345 billion to Bangladesh between July and September. The figure was $1.629 billion during the same period in the last fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Bank statistics.
Like remittance earnings, export earnings recorded 71 percent growth in July this fiscal year compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.
Meanwhile, commercial banks are involved in a stiff competition among themselves to attract remittance as remittance has became a major source of foreign currency, a high official of a commercial bank said.
The banks are aggressively offering quick and reliable services to attract Bangladeshi wage earners to send money home through their banking channels.
Meanwhile, private bank officials said the global economic slowdown, mainly in the US and European countries, is yet to impact the remittance inflow. They, however, apprehend that if the crisis continues it may have a negative impact on the inflow.
According to the statistics of the last fiscal year, Bangladesh received about 27 percent remittance from the US and European countries alone.
Mainly due to high growth in remittance earnings, the foreign exchange reserve is in a comfortable position despite a swell in import costs. The foreign exchange reserve stood at $5.783 billion, Bangladesh Bank statistics said.
Import costs increased by 26 percent in the last fiscal year. Import costs increased by 34 percent in the month of July in the current fiscal year.
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