Md Fazlur Rahman

Outward remittances from Bangladesh through legal channels crossed the $100-million mark for the first time in 2021 as more foreigners are working in the fast-growing economy, data from a global organisation showed.

Although agent banking is spreading at a faster clip in Bangladesh, accelerating financial inclusion, a majority of activities are concentrated in Dhaka and Chattogram divisions, central bank data showed.

Bangladesh is going through some short-term challenges like the rest of the world largely for the external factors but the medium-term prospects for the country remain bright, said Standard Chartered Bank Group Chairman José Viñals. 

The central bank is set to return to its semiannual monetary policy stance after three years as per a suggestion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but local economists say the move would not bring about any change amid the lending rate cap and multiple exchange rates. 

The exchange rate of dollar needs to be freed to make the garment business profitable at this crisis time, said a top leader of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) today.

"Complacency has brought us to the current forex reserve situation,” said Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of the Bangladesh Bank.

The government should come up with a clear strategy to stop fast depletion of the foreign currency reserves in a bid to save the country from a major crisis, said a noted economist today.

The Premier Bank Limited celebrates its 23rd anniversary today. Set up in 1999, it is one of the strongest banks in Bangladesh today with the lowest non-performing loan ratio. Its deposit base and loans have expanded in the last two decades. Recently, M Reazul Karim, managing director of Premier Bank, spoke about the bank’s journey, digital banking and new challenges and opportunities for banks, during an interview with The Daily Star. 

Internet banking transactions nearly doubled to Tk 23,548 crore in July compared to a year earlier, central bank figures showed as more people in Bangladesh are using computers and mobile apps to access various financial services.  

The mobile financial service (MFS) sector in Bangladesh has been on a tear, with the number of accounts surpassing the 18-crore mark for the first time in July. 

In 2000 when DHL Express, the world’s leading logistics company, and The Daily Star, the most-read English language daily in Bangladesh,

The wage growth in Bangladesh declined to a seven-year low of 6.06 per cent in the last fiscal year, highlighting the struggle low-paid workers are facing owing to the higher cost of living, official figures showed.    

Remittance flow to Bangladesh rose 11.76 per cent year-on-year to $2.09 billion in July, a development that would bring some relief for the country that is struggling to keep its foreign currency reserves in a healthy shape.

Registration of new firms in Bangladesh declined 9 per cent year-on-year to 13,480 in the just-concluded fiscal year of 2021-22 owing largely to the persisting economic uncertainty at home and abroad, official figures showed. 

The central bank yesterday beefed up its efforts to increase the supply of US dollars as the foreign exchange market of Bangladesh is facing acute shortages of American greenback amid the yawning gap between imports and exports.   

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow on a nine-day trip to discuss the government’s request for a $4.5 billion loan in the form of budgetary support.

The timing could not be worse for the fiscal year to start with. 

Bangladesh Bank today says it has decided to raise the ratio of import payments businesses must make to banks while opening letters of credit (LCs) for luxury goods, foreign fruits and non-essential items such as non-cereal food, canned and processed products.

There have to be exchange rate and interest rate flexibilities in order to make the monetary policy of the Bangladesh Bank effective, said Zahid Hussain, a noted economist. 

The central bank of Bangladesh will have to use the monetary policy to stabilise the foreign exchange market to pave the way for curbing inflation through demand management, said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh.