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The inflow of remittance in April was also down by 16.01% from the previous month
Remittance inflow declined by 24.68% year-on-year to $1.08 billion in April as coronavirus pandemic took the toll.
The inflow of remittance in April was also down by 16.01% from the previous month, as expatriate Bangladeshis sent $1.28 billion in remittance in March, according to the data of Bangladesh Bank (BB).
The global economy has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving thousands of migrant Bangladeshi workers jobless and creating pressure over foreign exchange reserve, say experts and bankers.
Bankers say restriction on international travel, enforcing complete lockdown and shutting down remittance houses, banks and business centers in countries where major Bangladeshis are employed are the key factors behind the slump of inbound remittance.
According to a government estimation, over 0.1 million Bangladeshi workers returned home jobless in one month amid the outbreak of novel coronavirus globally.
A large number of Bangladeshi migrants became jobless in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Maldives due to the economic rescission.
Besides, many Bangladeshi migrants in European countries became jobless also due to corona outbreak.
Of the jobless employees, many of them are in need of financial assistance as their employers refrained from paying any money during the pandemic.
Policy Research Institute Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur has said expatriate Bangladeshis in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the United States and the United Kingdom are now trying to protect themselves from the ongoing crisis owing to deadly coronavirus because those countries are now under lockdown.
As a result, it is difficult for them to send money to their relatives, he adds.
“On the other hand, the coronavirus situation in the Middle East is not good. The price of crude oil has fallen in the world market owing to the virus. Most of the expatriates will lose their job due to the declining price,” Ahsan, also the Chairman of Brac Bank, says further.
Mansur says already many expatriates have returned from abroad and a portion of them may not go back, which will adversely affect to remittance inflow in the coming months.
“New manpower exports have also stopped for few months. We do not know about how long the situation will continue. As a result, there is no good news for us. Remittance inflow will be impacted badly for long time.”
Expatriate Bangladeshis sent $16.41 billion in 2018-19 fiscal year.
In the first ten months of the current fiscal year, inbound remittance registered at 11.73% growth to $14.86 billion, thanks to the 2% incentive scheme of the government.
(DT)
