Additional incentives in the dollar crisis: remittances are giving hope

Due to the acute crisis, instability in the dollar market is gradually increasing in the country. Dollars are not available at fixed rates in banks and money changers. In particular, the value of the dollar in the open market exceeded all previous records. Control of the dollar in the open market is now in the hands of the black marketeers. Last Thursday (November 9) every dollar was sold up to Tk 127 in open market. Still, buyers are not getting the dollars they need. For the last several days, the transaction per dollar is up to 124 taka. Due to the dollar crisis, it is also difficult to pay the import debt. Dollars are being provided from reserves to meet the situation. Last week, the governor of Bangladesh Bank said that no more dollars will be sold from the reserve. In this situation, no initiative of the government to solve the dollar crisis seems to be working. In such a situation, banks are buying expatriate income from foreign exchange houses at an additional price of 12 to 14 taka. As a result, remittances, one of the sources of dollar income, have started to increase in critical situations. In the first 10 days of this November, expatriate Bangladeshis sent remittances of 794 million dollars to the country through legal channels and banking channels. 7 crore 94 lakh US dollar remittances are coming daily. This information is known from the updated report of Bangladesh Bank on Sunday (November 12). According to the data of the central bank, out of the 794 million dollars remittance received in the first 10 days of November, 4 million 92 million 40 thousand dollars came through the state bank, 1 million 94 million 50 thousand dollars through a specialized bank (BKB). Besides, 72 crore 32 lakh 60 thousand dollars came through private banks and 24 lakh 50 thousand dollars through foreign banks. No remittance has come through 10 banks during this time. Industry stakeholders say that the highest remittances came through the banking channel in 2020 due to the closure of Hundi. In the outgoing fiscal year 2022-23, expatriates sent remittances of USD 2,161 million through banking channels. Which is the second highest ever in any fiscal year. Earlier, during the corona period, the maximum remittance of 2 thousand 477 million dollars came to the country in the financial year 2020-21. Not more than 115 rupees per dollar of remittance: After the information of paying more than 122 rupees against each dollar in the case of remittances came to the media, the association of chief executives of banks ABB and association of foreign exchange banks BAFEDA held an emergency meeting. The two organizations took a new decision in a joint meeting last Wednesday (November 8). According to the decision, from now on, the dollar price cannot be paid more than 115 rupees in any case, including the Bank’s own incentives.

ABN/JD