The government has decided to increase the cash incentive on sending remittance to 2.5 per cent from the existing 2 per cent in order to encourage sending remittances through legal channels, reports BSS.
The decision, which came into effect from 1 January 2022, is expected to improve the overall living standards of people, boosting the foreign currency reserves, checking money laundering, generating employment, said a finance ministry press release.
This increase of cash incentives against remittance is a gift from prime minister Sheikh Hasina to the expatriate Bangladeshi workers marking the New Year, it said.
The release also said the government first decided to provide 2 per cent cash incentives against sending remittance in the FY20 which resulted in a healthy inward remittance amount of $18.20 billion which was 13 per cent higher than the previous fiscal year (FY19).
In continuation of this, the inward remittance amount was $24.80 billion in the last fiscal year (FY21) which was also 36 per cent higher than the previous fiscal year (FY20).