The first Eid has come to an end since the fall of the Awami League government in August last year. On this occasion, expatriates from abroad are sending more remittances or expatriate income through legal channels than at any time in the past. Bankers say that mainly because money laundering has decreased, expatriates have chosen legal channels to send their income. As a result, a new record has been set in expatriate income during the month of Ramadan. 2.7 billion US dollars came into the banking channel in the first 24 days of this month. In total, expatriate income came in at 2.52 billion dollars in February. This information has been found in the updated statistics of Bangladesh Bank.
If the current trend of expatriate income continues, bankers expect that the amount of expatriate income may exceed 3 billion US dollars by the end of this month. Officials said that the dollar crisis that was going on in banks has largely been overcome due to the increase in expatriate income. They said that the instability that was there regarding the price of the dollar has also reduced. Banks are now buying expatriate income within the maximum rate of 123 taka set by the central bank.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, in the first 15 days of this month, expatriate income came in at 1.66 billion dollars. Four days later, on March 19, the expatriate income coming through banking channels, i.e. legal channels, stood at $2.25 billion. Of this, $130 million came in on March 19 alone. Again, from March 1 to 22, i.e. the first 22 days of the month, the amount of expatriate income stood at $2.43 billion, which increased to $2.7 billion on March 24.
Usually, expatriate income comes in more than any other month of the year before the two Eids. Last year, expatriate income of $450 million came in in the five days before the holy Eid-ul-Fitr. That is, an average of $90 million came in a day. In the first week of this month, it came in at an average of $110 million and in the second week, it came in at an average of $120 million. Over the next four days, expatriates increased their remittances. During this time, they sent an average of about $150 million daily.
Since the political change in the country in August last year, expatriates have sent more than $2 billion every month for seven consecutive months. The most recent was in February, when expatriates sent $2.528 billion, which is 17 percent more than the same period last year. In January this year, expatriate income was 3 percent higher than the same period last year.
In total, expatriates sent $18.49 billion to the country in the first eight months of the 2024-25 fiscal year, July-March, which is 24 percent more than the same period in the previous fiscal year. In the same period of the previous 2023-24 fiscal year, expatriate income was $14.93 billion.
It is known that the purchase of dollars for expatriate income has now decreased significantly due to competition among banks. As a result, the price of the dollar is within 123 taka. This is also reducing the price of the dollar in importing goods. Earlier, the price of each dollar rose to 128 taka.
Expatriate income is the only non-liable source of dollar supply in the country. Because, no foreign currency has to be spent against this income, or there is no need to pay any liabilities. On the other hand, even if dollars come into the country against export income, foreign currency has to be spent again to import raw materials and equipment. Again, dollars are needed to repay foreign loans. As a result, as expatriate income increases, dollar reserves in the country's central bank increase rapidly.