Remittance hits $21.7b, an all-time high
Remittance hit an all-time high of $21.74 billion last year as migrant workers continued to use formal channels sidestepping the hundi system to send home massive amounts of money.
Last year, the inflow posted a magnificent growth of 18.59 per cent compared to that in the previous year, showed data from the central bank.
Migrant workers remitted $2.05 billion in December, meaning that the inflow crossed the $2-billion mark for the fourth straight month.
The increasing trend has given a boost to government confidence in managing the macro-economy in times of crisis.
The country s foreign exchange reserve has already surpassed the $43 billion mark riding on the upward trend of remittance, a development that will help the government use the foreign exchange reserve on a rainy day. The reserve stood at $32.38 billion in March last year when the coronavirus hit the country.
Economy bruised, not broken
The year 2020 could have been a watershed for Bangladesh. Policymakers would have put their heads together and looked at what have been achieved and what went wrong in order to set targets accordingly to become a prosperous and developed nation.
But people had to spend the entire year fighting against the deadly virus to keep their heads above water as the pandemic headwinds have brought the whole world to its knees.
Amid distress and devastation everywhere, businesses were in a testing situation that they had not experienced at least in the last two decades.
It was kind of an endurance test for the economy, and so far, it appeared to be a winner, despite bruises.
FBCCI pushes for extending loan moratorium
Private bank sponsors want no additional provisioning for loans being paid back regularly; analysts oppose both demands
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has reiterated itsrequest for Bangladesh Bank to extend an ongoing loan moratorium until June.
Moreover, the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB), comprising private bank sponsors, has called for exempting provisions for loans, against which instalments are being paid regularly, from the latest central bank directive on keeping an additional 1 per cent provisioning for all unclassified loans.
The rest of the loans making use of the moratorium, or in other words, against which repayment instalments are not being paid, should fall under the purview of the additional provisioning directive, said the association.
Balance of payment shows record surplus at $4bn
Anisul Islam Noor
15th December, 2020 10:05:56
The country’s overall Balance of Payments (BoP) has marked a record surplus at over $4.1 billion during the July-October period as capital machinery and other import demand dropped amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The current account balance was in deficit of over $ 1.52 billion and the overall balance of payment was in deficit of $229 million during the July-October period of FY 2019-20.
Economists attributed the surplus BoP to a slow pace in financial activities amid the Covid-19 pandemic. A steady inflow of remittance and a rise in external fund flows also contributed to the surplus, they noted.
Companies and well-off households are parking funds at banks in the form of deposits despite no return in real terms primarily because of lower investment and consumption caused by the pandemic-induced uncertainties.
Total deposits in the banking sector stood at Tk 13,45,436 crore as of September, up 12.40 per cent year-on-year.
But the question is whether depositors would get any positive return on their deposits with banks at the moment. The answer is no.
Bankers and analysts say the real interest rate now hovers around the negative territory given the higher inflation rate.
The situation may not change anytime soon, so there is little possibility for the deposit rate to go up in the next two to three years, they warn.