Staff Correspondent
The central bank today said remitters would not have to make any declaration to send remittances up to $20,000.
According to the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions 2018, a declaration is not required against inward remittances up to $10,000 or its equivalent.
To facilitate inward remittances, it has been decided that declaration will not be required for inward remittances up to $20,000 or its equivalent, said the Bangladesh Bank in a notice.
The central bank move is aimed at attracting more remittances through formal channels.
The government hiked the rate of incentives by 0.5 percentage points to 2.5 per cent in January last year. It also withdrew the mandatory provisions for the submission of earning documents of the remitters in the case of availing cash incentives against remittances exceeding the amount of $5,000.
More than 11.35 lakh Bangladeshis left the country for jobs abroad last year, the highest in a single month and nearly doubling from 6.17 lakh migrant workers who flew abroad in 2021, data released by the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training showed.
Still, the remittance has not picked up proportionately as workers reportedly send half of their money to the beneficiaries back home using informal channels owing to the better rates of the US dollar offered by hundi operators, depriving the country of much-needed American greenback.
Between July and January, expatriate Bangladeshis sent remittances amounting to $12.45 billion, up 4.25 per cent year-on-year.

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