MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bangladesh Bank Reports Record $2.6b in Remittances During July

The Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, recently reported that Bangladeshis living in other countries sent USD 2.59 billion home during the month of July. This was an increase of USD 760 million over June 2020 and USD 1 billion higher than July 2019. Although some observers expected a fall in remittances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, others cite the following factors as contributing to the increase: requests for aid from Bangladeshis experiencing unemployment and other economic shocks associated with the pandemic; the celebration of the Islamic holiday Eid-ul-Adha, which occurred in July this year (but in August during 2019); and the introduction of a 2-percent cash incentive from the Bangladeshi government for migrants to switch from using informal to formal remittance channels. Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, also argued that migrants may be sending more money in preparation for returning home “due to joblessness abroad.”

The Bangladesh Bank is the chief regulator of the country’s monetary and financial system. Established in 1972, its mission is to regulate reserves, foster development of the country’s economy and manage the country’s monetary and credit system. The bank’s total reserves stood at USD 32.7 billion as of June 2019.

By Jessica McLeod, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

The Business Standard news release
https://tbsnews.net/economy/banking/single-month-remittance-recorded-260bn-first-time-114979

Bangladesh Bank homepage
https://www.bb.org.bd/

Bangladesh Bank Annual Report 2018-2019
https://www.bb.org.bd/pub/annual/anreport/ar1819/full_2018_2019.pdf

Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh homepage
http://www.pri-bd.org/

Previous MicroCapital article on Bangladesh Bank
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-bangladeshi-grameen-bank-to-be-placed-under-jurisdiction-of-bangladesh-bank/

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