UAE becomes top remittance source for Bangladesh

The United Arab Emirates has become the highest source of remittance for Bangladesh during the first five months of the current fiscal year.

The Bangladeshi expatriates in different countries sent home a total of $1.93 billion in November.

Of this, 17.47% came from the United Arab Emirates and 14.32 % from Saudi Arabia which has always been at the top.

Remittances from the US also went up.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, Bangladesh received $1.97 billion in remittance in July, $1.59 billion in August, $1.33 billion in September, $1.98 billion in October and $1.93 billion in November.

Besides, remittances from five of the 10 countries, which are usually the top 10 sources, dropped.

The top 10 remittance sources in the first five  months of the current financial year were the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US, Oman, Malaysia, Kuwait, Italy, Qatar, and Bahrain.

During this period, expatriates sent $1535 million from the UAE, $1260 million from Saudi Arabia, and $1089 million from the UK. Remittances from the US were $914 million while that from Oman were $368 million.

In the FY2022-23, the top two remittance sources were Saudi Arabia and the US, respectively.

Remitters now get additional incentives of up to 2.5% from banks in addition to the 2.5% offered by the government as banks have increased efforts to boost remittance earnings amid the foreign exchange crisis.

Some banks are offering at least Tk 5 to Tk 6 per dollar more than the permitted rate fixed by the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) and the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB).

In the last week of November, BAFEDA and ABB appreciated the taka by Tk0.50 against the US dollar and had decided to buy the greenback at Tk110 from exporters and remitters, and sell it at Tk110.5 each.

Again at the end of November, bankers decided to cut the buying and selling rates of the US dollar by Tk0.25 more.

Banks will buy each dollar at Tk109.75 from remitters and exporters, and sell each at Tk110.25 to importers from December 3.