Bangladesh has received nearly $1.65 billion in remittances in October 2019, the second highest ever for a single month, which experts attributed to the government's move for incentives on funds remitted by expatriates.
The all-time highest for a single hit in May this year ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest festival of Muslims in Bangladesh, when expatriates sent nearly $1.75 billion.
According to figures released by the Bangladesh Bank on Sunday (Nov 3), remittance stood at nearly $ 1.47 billion in September this year.
Inflow in October this year registered a 32.32 percent hike over the same time last year, said the central bank.
In the first four months of the fiscal (July- October), expatriate Bangladeshis have remitted over $6 billion, up by 20.4 percent from the same period in the last financial year, says official figures.
"The government's decision for incentives on remittances was good move, which led expatriates to send in more money," Zaid Bakht, a research director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), told Bangla Tribune.
Remittances account for 12 percent of Bangladesh's the gross domestic product (GDP).
More than half of Bangladesh’s remittances come from expatriates in six Middle-eastern countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.