Remittance's upbeat start to 2018 continued into February, which saw inflows soar 22.13 percent year-on-year to $1.14 billion on the back of the depreciation of the taka against the US dollar.

The local currency has been depreciating against the American greenback for the last few months, prompting Bangladeshis living abroad to remit more money through the formal channel.

On July 2 last year, the first business day of fiscal 2017-18, the interbank exchange rate stood at Tk 80.60. On February 28, it was Tk 82.96.

“The near and dear ones of the Bangladeshi diaspora have been getting a favourable rate over the last few months,” said Syed Mahbubur Rahman, the chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh, a forum of banks' chief executive officers.

A strong pick-up in global economic activities, especially in the Middle Eastern nations, also helped the country maintain the upward trend, said an official of the Bangladesh Bank.

The central bank has recently strengthened its surveillance to check hundi, the illegal outlet that many turn to to move funds cross-border, according to Rahman, managing director of Dhaka Bank.

“This had a good result on the remittance flow,” Rahman said.

The inflows take this fiscal year's receipts so far to $9.46 billion, up 16.55 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the BB.

Remittance is a major source of foreign currency for Bangladesh and its descent since fiscal 2015-16 has become a matter of concern for the government. Last fiscal year, the receipts were the lowest in six years.

February's receipts though are lower than in the previous month, when $1.37 billion came in.