Bangladesh received nearly $10 billion in remittances during the first three and a half months of the current fiscal year with marking a nearly 13 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
According to Bangladesh Bank data the expatriates sent $9.997 billion home between July 1 and October 13 up from $8.856 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal year. In the first 13 days of October alone inflows reached $1.4 billion a 10.6 percent rise from $1.27 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The remittance surge follows a strong performance in recent months, July brought $2.86 billion (up 15.4 percent), August recorded $2.97 billion (up 22.5 percent), and September generated $2.76 billion (up 3 percent). Total earnings for the previous fiscal year reached a record $35.59 billion with averaging $2.96 billion per month.
This sustained influx has significantly strengthened the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Central bank figures show gross reserves stood at $36.19 billion on Wednesday while usable reserves under the IMF’s BPM6 standard reached $31.38 billion.
With merchandise imports totaling $5.76 billion in August, Bangladesh’s current usable reserves are sufficient to cover roughly five and a half months of import costs well above the international benchmark of three months.
