STAR BUSINESS REPORT

Migrant workers sent home $2.1 billion in January, the highest in seven months, thanks to the outflow of a record number of workers who went abroad for jobs in 2023, central bank figures showed yesterday.

Last month’s receipts were 8 percent higher year-on-year from $1.95 billion, which is expected to ease pressure on the country’s balance of payments (BoP), a statement of economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world.

Including the inflow in January, remittance inflow grew 3 percent to $12.89 billion in the July-January period of fiscal year 2023-24.

Remittance is one of the major sources of foreign currency for Bangladesh apart from export.

The money sent by migrant working abroad play a vital role in Bangladesh’s BoP, which has been under pressure for more than two years as the outflow of funds for imports and other payments has been higher than the inflow of foreign exchange in the form of remittance, export earnings, foreign investment and credit.

Besides, Bangladesh Bank sold $28.7 billion worth of US dollars to banks in the country over the past two-and-a-half years to enable them to clear various bills, which caused the reserves to fall gradually.

However, the latest inflow of remittance “We