Remittance continued its downward course, declining 17.6 percent year-on-year to about $936 million in February.

During the July-February period of the fiscal year, remittance receipts slumped 17 percent to $8.11 billion.

The central bank in its latest monetary policy blamed the low oil price for the decline in the money sent home by Bangladeshis living abroad.

In 2016-17, remittance inflow has decreased every month compared to the same period a year ago.

Mitsuhiro Furusawa, deputy managing director the of International Monetary Fund, who visited Bangladesh earlier this week, told The Daily Star that the weakening of remittance is a new challenge for Bangladesh.

The central bank has taken a number of measures to find out the factors behind the fall in remittance through the banking channel. The central bank has also called upon Bangladesh missions abroad to remain alert so that unscrupulous quarters cannot remit money through illegal channels like hundi.

Remittances are Bangladesh's second-biggest source of foreign income, after garment exports.

So, the decline in remittance has hit the current account balance negatively and widened the balance of payments.

The current account balance turned into negative $726 million and trade deficit widened to $3.88 billion during the July-November period, according to central bank data.

Remittance fell although a large number of people went abroad last year for jobs.

In 2016, some 749,249 workers went abroad in contrast to 555,881 a year ago,

according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

Remittance fell mainly due to the decrease in oil price, a finance ministry official said.

Saudi Arabia accounted for the highest incremental share in manpower export figure for 2016, while a significant number of the workers went to Oman, Qatar and Malaysia.

But Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office, said in January that the decline in remittance is not just because of the depressing effects of low oil prices on incomes and employment in the oil exporting countries. Since July last year, remittances have declined very significantly from the US and the UK as well, he said.

The rising trend of remitting money through informal channels and the uncertainties caused by the unexpected Brexit and the US elections results might have affected the remittance flow, according to Hussain.

If the ongoing fiscal consolidation in the Gulf countries is sharper than expected, remittance flows could slow sharply, he said.