Inflow of inward remittances behind target: Finance minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has apprehended that the amount of the country’s inward remittances may not reach the target this year and stand at $21 billion due to the existing Covid pandemic situation.

“We are now slightly behind the inward remittance target due to the world economic situation,” the finance minister told journalists after a virtual meeting on the cabinet committee on public purchase on Monday.

Meanwhile, in October last, Mustafa Kamal had said that inward remittance flow should increase gradually and earnings could return to normal in three months.

The flow of inward remittances dropped by nearly 20 percent to $7.05 billion during the July-October period of the current fiscal year (FY22) from $8.81 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, Bangladesh Bank (BB) data showed.

“We believe that this year our export earnings will be worth $47/48 billion. We are going to achieve a new milestone in exports,” the finance minister said.

In the country’s 50-year history, most of the achievements came in the last 12 years of the rule of Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.

“Our goal is to be a high middle-income country within 2030. By 2041, we will be a developed country,” Kamal said.