Remittance inflow has continued its upward trend for the eighth consecutive month, registering 17 percent year-on-year growth in May thanks to the depreciation of the taka against the US dollar.

Expatriates sent home $1.48 billion as remittance in April whereas it was $1.26 billion in the same month last year. This is 11.38 percent higher than the $1.33 billion which came in the previous month, according to Bangladesh Bank data released yesterday.

Remittance inflow usually tends to increase ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, said a senior BB executive.

Moreover, the local currency's depreciation prompted remitters to send foreign currency through banking channels, he said. The inter-bank exchange rate of the US dollar increased by Tk 3.20 to stand at Tk 83.70 on May 31, according to central bank data.

A majority of banks have been facing a shortage of greenbacks in the last couple of months due to spiralling import payments against lower export earnings.

Banks recently urged the central bank to inject more greenbacks into the market to address the shortage, brought on by higher import bills compared to export receipts in the past two years. They also urged Bangladesh Bank to allow them to make flexible the bill for collection selling rate, which is the rate at which banks make import payments, as the current rate is not commercially viable for them.

Import expenditure grew 24.50 percent to $40.30 billion in the July-March period of fiscal 2017-18 from $32.36 billion in the same period last fiscal year.