Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) sent $390 million in January and $413.63 million in December, which was an all time high in a single month. In the first seven months of the last fiscal year the amount was $2093.49 million.

As the central bank continues its efforts to encourage NRBs to send their money through banking channels, remittance inflow has so far been able to see a strong growth.

Private commercial banks (PCBs) have also become more aggressive in remittance business offering quick and reliable services and attracting Bangladeshis abroad to send their money through legal channels. Remittance has also become a good source of income of some foreign banks with strong network in Bangladesh.

Remittance inflow was $3,848.29 million in the last financial year. According to sources, NRBs send over $ 7 billion a year and a significant portion of the total amount still comes through hundi, an illegal way of money transfer.

Bankers observed there are further scopes to increase remittance through banking channels.

"Some of the private banks are taking services of the globally renowned money transfer companies that have networks around the world and have extended their services to rural Bangladesh," said a top executive of a private bank. "As a result, remittance has become a major source of their incomes."

With higher growth in remittance inflow, the foreign exchange reserve is in a relatively better shape amounting to $2.83 billion last week, although the overall balance of payment (BoP) has been under pressure.

A surplus BoP turned into a deficit one during July-November period of the current financial year due to widening trade gap and declining net FDI and foreign aid.

The BoP was a surplus US$484 million in the first five months of 2004-05 fiscal while it became negative $369 million during the same period of 2005-06 financial year.

Although import growth over the same period dropped, it did not help in shrinking the trade gap as export growth also marked a decline during July-November period of the current financial year.

Import grew by 22.95 percent in the July-November period of FY05 while it recorded 10.95 percent growth during the same period of FY 06. On the other hand, export grew by 19.64 percent in the July-November period in FY05 while it recorded a 12.73 percent growth in the first five months of FY 06.