Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, the country’s remittance inflow touched a new milestone to cross $1 billion within only 12 days in November.

According to Bangladesh Bank data published on Monday, the remittance inflow stood at $1.06 billion in the first 12 days in November.

In this regard, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday told the media, “For the unexpected impact of Covid-19, the world is facing a major economic crisis. During this time, our remittance heroes have been keeping our economy afloat by sending money.”

In the budget of 2019-20 fiscal, it was announced that 2 percent cash incentive will be given if remittances are sent legally from abroad, he added.

Soon after that, when remittance started to increase, many people started saying that these are not right, will not be achieved, are not sustainable, he mentioned.

“During the first three months of the current fiscal year, when remittance showed a record growth, some people started making various comments, including workers returning to the country after wrapping up their work or business,” he added.

In line with those people, various international organizations also started saying that this flow is not right, it will not be sustainable, the finance minister said adding, but the flow of remittance growth since the announcement of the incentives to date has proved their predictions wrong and proved once again that we were right.

Till November 12, the expatriate income has reached more than $1 billion, which has never been achieved in just 12 days in the history of the country, he informed.

Achieving over $2 billion in expatriate income per month on average is a rare event in history, he mentioned.

The Finance Minister expressed his gratitude to all the expatriates for their tireless efforts in this unprecedented achievement of the government under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh’s remittance inflow showed a stronger growth to reach a new record of $8.83 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal, up 43.24 percent over that in the same period of the previous fiscal.

This figure was $6.16 billion in the same period of the fiscal year 2019-2020.

The expatriates sent a record remittance of $2.11 billion from different foreign countries in October against only $1.64 billion in the same period of the previous year.

This is the highest monthly remittance received in the country’s history helps push foreign currency reserves to reach a new record of $41 billion at the end of October.

An official of Bangladesh Bank (BB) said various time-befitting initiatives taken by the government have resulted in an increased awareness among expatriate workers to send their hard-earned money through legal channels, pushing up the remittance inflow.

Bangladeshi expatriates in various countries sent home $2.15 billion in September this year, posting a 45.64 percent year-on-year growth compared to $1.47 billion remitted in the same month last year.

The country’s remittance inflow increased by 35.93 percent to $1.96 billion in August against $1.44 billion in the same period of the previous year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Expatriates sent a record remittance of $2.60 billion from different foreign countries in July.

The country’s remittance inflow witnessed a record high reaching almost $2.60 billion in July, which for the first time in the history of Bangladesh crossed the remittance inflow to $2.50 billion.

The higher growth of remittance inflow now is attributed to a budget declaration of 2 percent cash incentive to remitters on inward remittance for the last fiscal year.

This will significantly increase the remittance inflow through legal channels and discourage the ‘hundi’ business, economists said.

The country’s remittance inflow witnessed a record growth to touch a milestone of $18.20 billion in fiscal 2019-20 despite a global economic recession amid the Covid-19 crisis.

This inflow was 10.85 per cent higher than that in the previous fiscal.

In fiscal (FY) 2018-19, the country’s remittance inflow stood at a record high of $16.41 billion, according to BB.

This inflow increased by about 9.5 per cent in FY19 from $14.98 billion in the previous fiscal.

Bangladeshi expatriates sent home $11.65 billion in FY2011, $12.84 billion in FY2012, $14.46 billion in FY2013, $14.23 billion in FY2014, $15.31 billion in FY2015, $14.93 billion in FY 2016, $12.77 billion in FY2017 and $14.98 billion in FY2018 respectively.

More than 1.02 crore Bangladeshi expatriates are currently working in some 174 countries across the world.