Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh’s export earnings have increased more than at any time in the previous year along with an increase in remittances.
Bangladesh Bank has taken various steps besides discouraging the import of luxury goods. The dollar crisis is also slowly disappearing. According to Bangladesh Bank data, after about three months, the net open position (NOP) limits of the banks have come to a positive trend. On Tuesday, the NOP stood at $80 million while on November 30, 2022, the NOP had been negative $515.4 million.
On Monday, the amount of foreign currency in the accounts of Bangladeshi banks in different countries of the world stood at $3,330 million. A few days ago, it had been slightly more than $2,000 million.
Bangladesh Bank officials said LC openings had increased due to an improvement in dollar supply. On Monday, 2,200 LCs were opened in banks.
Around 1,500 to 2,000 LCs are opened on a daily basis which went down to around 1,000 two months ago.
Besides, Bangladesh received $476 million as the first instalment of an IMF loan. This amount was added to the foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh Bank on February 2.
The IMF is optimistic about Bangladesh’s export earnings. According to the international lender, Bangladesh’s export earnings in the fiscal year 2026-27 are expected to be $75.8 billion, which is almost double that of the fiscal year 2020-21. In the fiscal year 2020-21, the export earnings were $36.9 billion. The information was revealed in the estimation of various indicators of the economy of Bangladesh after the IMF approved a loan proposal of $4.7 billion on January 30.
One of the export destinations of Bangladeshi products is the European Union (EU) countries, which can currently be exported with duty- and quota-free facilities. This facility will remain in effect till 2029. This is also considered to be one of the reasons for the increase in export earnings.
According to the data from Bangladesh Bank, the remittance flow has started to return to a positive trend. In January, Bangladeshi expatriates living in different countries of the world sent remittances to the tune of $1,958.8 million to the country, which is more than Tk20,959 crore in Bangladeshi currency (at the rate of Tk107 per dollar). As such, the average daily remittances are more than $63.1 million.
In December 2022, remittances came in at $1,690 million. The same trend of remittance flow is flowing in February as well. In the first 10 days of this month, $643 million in remittances came in, which is more than $64.3 million or about Tk688 crore on a daily average. If this trend continues, remittances will exceed $1.8 billion in the 28 days in February.
According to the report of Bangladesh Bank, remittances through legal channels have started to increase. Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha are ahead. The Remittance flow will increase around these two festivals.
State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam said: “I have noticed signs of remittances in the last one month. Altogether $10.49 billion arrived in the July-December period, and if the account of January is added, it will stand at $12.45 billion.”
He added: “The country’s economy is improving day by day and inflation is gradually decreasing. Our economy is under control.”
According to the central bank data, remittances in the first two months (July and August) of the 2022-23 financial year reached $2 billion. The following month, from September, it stopped at the $1.5 billion mark for five consecutive months.
In the first month of the current financial year, remittances came in at $2,096.3 million, in August it was $2,036.9 million. In the first two months of the fiscal year, remittances came in at $2 billion.
Thereafter, the remittance flow started to decrease in September, which came to around $1.5 billion monthly.
In September 2022, came $1,539.6 million, in October came $1,525.5 million, in November $1,594.7 million and in December $1,699.6 million. In the month of January, remittances reached $1,958.8.
In the financial year 2021-22, $21.3 billion in remittances came into the country through the banking channels. This is 15.11% less than its previous fiscal year. In the financial year 2020-21, remittances of $24.77 billion were sent by Bangladeshi expatriates living in different countries.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has identified around 6,000 agents involved in an organized hundi gang. At the same time 5,557 beneficiaries were identified and their MFS accounts were frozen. About 3,000 accounts have been activated with the promise that they will not bring money illegally. Many of them are now sending remittances through legitimate channels.
Bangladesh Bank officials said remittances increased to about $1.96 billion in January due to various initiatives of the BFIU to prevent the hundi trend. It will increase further in the coming months.
Sources said the BFIU has so far identified 5,766 suspected agents and sent them to the Criminal Investigation Department of the police. Among them, the agentship of 2,266 agents and three distributors involved in Hundi has been cancelled. Among the MFS accounts of 5,557 beneficiaries blocked by the BFIU, the amount of deposit was Tk2,32,47,000. Among these, 2,953 accounts have been activated. As for the remaining 2,614, only withdrawal is stopped. Out of this, more than 800 account holders have applied in writing to activate their accounts.
Meanwhile, the export income increased by $2,858.7 in the month of January due to the global recession, which increased by 5.89%. According to the latest report of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh’s exports of manufactured goods in the world market in January this year amounted to $5.14 billion, which was $4.85 billion in January 2022. In terms of percentage, the export earnings in January 2023 increased by 5.89% compared to January 2022.
In this context, BGMEA Director Mohiuddin Rubel said: “Despite the global recession, Bangladesh’s export income is booming. The garment sector is playing a major role in this regard.”
He said: “During this period of the fiscal year 2022-23, our overall apparel exports increased by 14.31% to $27.41 billion from $23.98 billion. Exports of knitwear products stood at $14.96 billion, while exports of woven products stood at $12.45 billion. In both cases the growth was 12.70% and 16.30%, respectively. Hence, the growth in the woven sector has been higher than that of knitwear.”

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