Mentioning that the inward remittance inflow witnessed a whopping 50 per cent growth during this July-August period, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said such uptrend of remittance inflow alongside export earnings would continue in the coming days.
“There has been a buoyancy in the inward remittance flow (record 50 per cent growth in remittance in July-August) while growth will also be there in export earnings. I hope such uptrend will continue. This has been possible because the country’s people are the main lifeline,” he said.
The Finance Minister was briefing reporters virtually after chairing the 21st meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday, reports BSS.
According to the Finance Ministry, Bangladesh received remittances worth $4.56 billion during this July-August period while single month remittance inflow in August, 2020 reached $1.96 billion.
Asked about the reason behind this high remittance growth, Kamal said when he was the Planning Minister, he carried out a survey on the inward remittance inflow where it was found that a big share of the remittances come unofficially.
“But, we want that the inward remittances will come through the legal channel for which we had earlier announced the 2 per cent incentive which is now working good,” he added.
The finance minister also informed that over the last one year, no question was raised against anyone for sending remittance or about the source of remittance.
“I always believe one thing that we have resources and we’ll have to utilise those. We’ve domestic resources and we’ll have to bring those to the mainstream of the economy. Through this, dynamism will be infused to the economy and there will be a multiplier effect,” he added.
Terming the 50 per cent growth in remittance inflow during this July-August period as “unprecedented,” Kamal said this is also an unbelievable incident.
“If we compare with the last year, attaining 50 per cent growth in remittance in just two months is an unbelievable matter as the last year was the highest earning year for Bangladesh in remittance,” he said.
The finance minister said through sending such a huge amount of remittance, the expatriate Bangladeshis are supporting the country side by side are also strengthening the economic base of their families.
Making an ardent call to the expatriates for sending money to Bangladesh through legal channel, he said this would also give them a long-term benefit.
Kamal also extend his heartfelt thanks and also on behalf of the Prime Minister to the expatriates for sending remittances in large numbers.
Replying to a question about the disbursement of fund from the stimulus packages announced by the premier to offset the COVID-19 shock, the finance minister said the government wants to disburse the fund of the stimulus packages in a transparent way so that there is no distortion.
He said even Prime Minister herself has been supervising the disbursement process so that every eligible person and business establishment get benefit from this package.