Bangladesh’s gross foreign exchange is likely to stand at $30 billion at the end of 2022-23 fiscal year, lowest in four years, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Bangladeshi conglomerates counted Tk 65,000 crore in losses in the last one year because of the fall of the local currency against the US dollar, which made loans costlier amid global economic volatility, a noted economist said today.

Over 11.35 lakh Bangladeshis migrated to foreign nations in 2022, the highest ever in the history of the south Asian country.

Bangladesh economy was all set at the beginning of 2022 to get its growth momentum back after recovering from the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. But, the start of the Ukraine war in February slowed the country’s joy run significantly, making it an eventful year to remember. Let’s see how 2022 was for Bangladesh.

Remittance flow to Bangladesh is projected to drop by $1 billion to $21 billion this year from $22 billion last year, according to the World Bank.

Taking selfies from the stands and sitting on the grassy pitch, thousands of migrant workers gathered in a Doha stadium to watch the opening match of the first World Cup in the Middle East.

Jamuna Bank Limited has received approval from the Bangladesh Bank to establish an exchange house in Spain.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) yesterday froze 230 accounts of several mobile financial service providers as the accountholders were allegedly involved in hundi.

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 external factors are not only responsible for Bangladesh’s present economic volatility, rather there are some issues which remained unattended for a long time such as low revenue collection, absence of quality public expenditure and the non-performing loans, said noted economist Debapriya Bhattacharya today.

Banks in Bangladesh today decided to withdraw service charge on remittances sent home by expatriate Bangladeshis with a view to gearing up the inflow.

Do we know which were the top remittance receiving banks in Bangladesh for the month?

Remittance declined further in October, intensifying the pressure on the government to manage its macroeconomy amid plummeting foreign exchange reserves.

The “City Remit” mobile app has been launched to make it easier for expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittances through the legal route in Malaysia.

Despite a surge in the outflow of migrant workers, remittances to Bangladesh declined 11 percent year-on-year to $1.54 billion in September, the lowest in seven months.

The number of Bangladeshi workers who headed to the Middle East countries in search of jobs surged 177 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2022, official figures showed.    

Bangladesh’s remittance earnings crossed the $2-billion mark for the second consecutive month in August.

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.