Bangladesh receives record $22bn remittance in 2021

Bangladeshi expatriates sent $1.63 billion as remittances in the last month of the recently concluded year, making 2021 the highest remittance earning year for the country.

Bangladesh in 2021 received a record $22,070.87 million ($22 billion) as remittances.

Although the amount is the highest ever received in a year, remittance sent in the first six months of the current financial year is about 21 percent less compared to the same period in the previous financial year.‎

From July to December this year, the country received $10,239 million in remittance, which was $12,945 million in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Expatriates’ income declined for six consecutive months due to the second outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

EasLast November, the country's expatriate income was only $155 crore, which was the lowest in the last 18 months.

Bangladesh in the previous 2020-21 fiscal year earned $24,777 million in remittance. It was $18,205 million in FY 2019-20.

Bangladesh is the 8th largest remittance-receiving country and the 6th largest migrant-sending country in the world, according to the World Migration Report 2022.

Bangladesh in 2021 sent 6,17,209 workers overseas.

Meanwhile, the government on January 1 announced the raising of incentive rate on inward remittance to 2.5 percent from the next fiscal year of 2022-23.

Currently, the government provides an additional 2 percent on the amount sent through legal channels from abroad.