Remittances also help Bangladeshi making the balance of payments favourable, or make up the deficit between total export and import. For example, in 2008,Bangladesh exported$13.97 billion worth of goods and services and in turn imported $19.59 billion worth of goods and services. This gave a deficit of $5.62 billion inBangladesh’s Balance of Payment (BOP).Remittance has been a key driver of economic growth and poverty reduction in Bangladesh.”The migrants send back billions of dollars and the country can then use these resources for investment for industrial development, improvement of educational facilities and services, and extend and improve its health services. The money that is sent back is also beneficial to the families and to the country in that it helps reduce poverty and also allows for investment in small businesses and chances for furthering education.
Remittance is the life line of Bangladesh economy. Some 4.5m nonresident Bangladeshis are working abroad [9], and sending home hard earned foreign currencies. It is believed that the actual number of Bangladeshi migrants, both legal and illegal, would be close to 7.5 million. In the first 10 months of FY 2006-07, number of manpower export stood at 0.42m, showing 83.14% rise, compared to 0.25m in FY2004-05 [7]. In FY2005-06, the number stood at 0.29m, current year to year growth is around 16% [7]. In addition to achieving higher export earnings, the country witnessed a 44 percent growth in remittance earnings during the first quarter of 2008-09 fiscal year compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year [11]. The other records of remittance earnings in a single month are $820.71 million in July and $808.72 million in March of year 2008[11]. A total of 9,81,102 Bangladeshi people went abroad in 2007-08 fiscal year which is about 74 percent above the previous fiscal year figure, Bangladesh Bank statistics show. According to the statistics, on monthly average basis more than 81,000 Bangladeshis went abroad in 2007-08 fiscal year. The figure was 46,000 in the previous fiscal year. Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) sent $2.345 billion to Bangladesh between July and September of 2008, according to the Bangladesh Bank statistics .Meanwhile, private bank officials said the global economic slowdown, mainly in the US and European countries, is yet to impact the remittance inflow. They, however, apprehend that if the crisis continues it may have a negative impact on the inflow.
