Remittance sent by Bangladeshi workers living in different parts of the world is now gradually becoming the main driving force of the national economy. Last month (February 2006), US$ 428 million came to as remittance and it was the all time record for a single month in the history of . It has been reported that Bangladesh received over US$ 3 billion in remittance in the last financial year. Bangladeshi workers are heavily concentrated in Middle Eastern countries, Malaysia, USAand UK. Family bond is very strong in and that is why the more Bangladeshis go out of the country, it will bring more foreign currency to the country.
The sad part is that due to weakness in Banking infrastructure, more money flows to through hundi than the official channel. This causes significant loss of foreign exchange for the government of Bangladesh. There is no accurate statistics about the loss of foreign currency through hundi (illegal channel) for Bangladeshi government. Even many observers believe that money coming through the unofficial channel (hundi) is twice the amount of money coming through the official channel.
Bangladeshi government has in the last few years become conscious about this drain of wealth and is now actively pursuing setting up branches of Bangladeshi banks and financial institutions in the cities where Bangladeshis are concentrated.
Comment Preview