Expatriate Bangladeshis sent around $1.50 remittance during the month of May in the fiscal 2019-20 amid worldwide lockdown to halt coronavirus pandemic , according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank (BB). In May of this fiscal year, six state-owned commercial banks — Agrani, Janata, Rupali, Sonali, Basic and BDBL — received $347.11 million while one state- owned specialised bank- Bangladesh Krishi Bank received $40.77 million. Of the state-owned banks, Agrani Bank received $119.68 million, Janata Bank $58.89 million, Rupali Bank $37.61 million, Sonali Bank $130.85 million and Basic Bank received $0.08 million. Besides, the expatriates have sent $1,108.01 million through private commercial banks. Among the private commercial banks, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) received the highest amount of $460.96 million where as Dutch- Bangla Bank (DBBL) received $153.58 million. On the other hand, the expatriates have sent $7.51 million through the foreign commercial banks. The inflow of remittance in May rose by 38.34% from the previous month, as expatriate Bangladeshis sent $1.08 billion in remittance in April, according to the data of Bangladesh Bank (BB). However, the inflow of remittance declined by 14.01% year on year to $1.50 billion in May as coronavirus pandemic took the toll. The remittance inflow increased in May ahead of Eid Ul Fitr amid worldwide lockdown situation, say bankers. Remittance typically increases in every year ahead of Eid. This year the trend continued, despite global pandemic, said Md. Serajul Islam, spokesperson of the central bank. In April, remittance inflow declined by 24.68% year-on-year to $1.08 billion as the global economy came to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving thousands of migrant Bangladeshi workers jobless. Bankers say restriction on international travel, enforcing complete lockdown and shutting down remittance houses, banks and business centers in countries where major Bangladeshis are employed are the key factors behind the slump of inbound remittance. According to a government estimation, over 0.1 million Bangladeshi workers returned home jobless in one month amid the outbreak of novel coronavirus globally. A large number of Bangladeshi migrants became jobless in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Maldives due to the economic rescission. Besides, many Bangladeshi migrants in European countries became jobless also due to corona outbreak. Of the jobless employees, many of them are in need of financial assistance as their employers refrained from paying any money during the pandemic. Policy Research Institute Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur has said expatriate Bangladeshis in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the United States and the United Kingdom are now trying to protect themselves from the ongoing crisis owing to deadly coronavirus because those countries are now under lockdown. As a result, it is difficult for them to send money to their relatives, he adds. In the first eleven months of the current fiscal year, inbound remittance registered at 8.72% growth to $16.36 billion, thanks to the 2% incentive scheme of the government.
