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Remittance hits $1.64 billion in January Mehedi Hasan Published at 10:13 pm February 2nd, 2020 Remittance inflow increased by 21.45% to $11.04 billion in July-January period of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of last fiscal yea Expatriate Bangladeshis sent $1.64 billion in remittance last month, up by 2.56% than the corresponding month of the previous year. Remittance inflow increased by 21.45% to $11.04 billion in July-January period of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of last fiscal year, according to data of Bangladesh Bank. Bankers said that the favorable exchange rate of taka against the dollar and a strong stance taken by the central bank to fight illegal money transfers had a positive impact on the increasing trend of remittance. On February 2 this year, the inter-bank exchange rate stood at Tk84.95, up from Tk83.95 a year earlier, according to the central bank data. The central bank has attributed the sharp rise in remittance to the government’s 2% cash incentive introduced in the current fiscal year. “The flow of remittance into the country has shown an upward trend in the fiscal 2019-20 as the government has taken measures, including two percent cash incentive, to encourage legal channel for encouraging non-resident Bangladeshis to send money to their home country,” said the central bank’s spokesperson Md Serajul Islam. He said the recent flow of remittance indicated that it was gradually increasing and this trend was likely to continue in the upcoming months. In the current budget, the government offered a 2% incentive on money remitted through banks by Bangladeshi diasporas.