There will be no charge for sending remittances: Finance Minister

The Dhaka Times Desk Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith said that expatriates will no longer have to pay any cost to send remittances to the country.

In a pre-budget discussion with the Economic Reporters Forum, Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhit said, 'No charge will be made on remittances sent by expatriates from the next financial year. There are instructions from the Prime Minister in this regard.' The finance minister said this during the pre-budget discussion with the Economic Reporters Forum at the Secretariat last Saturday.

Stating that all the indicators of the economy are fairly positive, the finance minister said, 'recently there has been a slight decline in remittance flow. The government is concerned about the matter. To solve the problem, the Prime Minister has ordered not to deduct any charges on remittances sent by expatriates from the next financial year. He said that from now on no more charge on remittance, I think we will do it. We will do it under the direction of the Prime Minister. Expats will no longer have to pay money to send money.'

Referring to the slowdown in the Middle East as the main reason for the decline in remittances, Abul Mal Abdul Muhith said, 'The income of expatriates in the Middle East will decrease slightly. The reason is that there is a slight slowdown in the Middle East. Salary has also been reduced. Another reason is that expatriates are not sending all their money like before. They are keeping some money in their hands.'