BB on guard to prevent misuse of incentive on remittance
Documents verification to be made mandatory for remittance exceeding $1000
Bangladeshi expatriates working abroad will have to go through document verification if they want to avail two percent government cash incentive on remittance exceeding $1,000.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has put forward this proposal to the government in a bid to prevent misuse of incentives on remittance.
The central bank has proposed introducing two ceilings for remittance sent home by Bangladeshi expatriates.
Remittance amounting to less than $1,000 might fall in the lower slab, while an amount exceeding $1,000 will fall in the upper one.
The government has announced a two percent cash incentive for Bangladeshi expatriates to encourage them to send remittance through official channels. The central bank has prepared a guideline for the disbursement of this incentive among the remitters and sent it to the Financial Institutions Division of the Finance Ministry.
The proposal for introducing two remittance slabs has been made in that draft guideline.
BB Governor Fazle Kabir came up with the information at an event organised on Wednesday on the occasion of declaring the monetary policy statement (MPS) for the country for fiscal year 2019-20.
The BB governor said with conviction that the financial incentive on remittance would not be misappropriated.
While giving his remarks on the proposed ceilings for remittance, BB Deputy Governor Ahmed Jamal said the incentive payment will be provided instantly on remittance that will fall in the lower slab. However, in case of a remittance that will fall in the upper slab, all relevant documents of the remitter concerned will be scrutinised and verified before giving out the cash incentive, he added.
The BB deputy governor however said that the lower ceiling is yet to be fixed. “It could be $500 or $600,” he noted.
Meanwhile, in response to a question as to whether the central bank would publish information on outward remittance on its website alongside information on inward remittance, Governor Fazle Kabir said, “Remittance which is sent legally is shown as balance of payments. We have plans to display the information separately on the website in future.”
Being drawn attention to allegations of capital flight by foreigners, chief of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit Abu Hena Md Razee Hassan said that they have got information about some foreigners who have come to Bangladesh on tourist visa but have been working here.
“We have got information that some are staying here with expired visa,” he added
To prevent financial scams, the finance ministry has introduced two strategies so far -- combatting terrorist financing and prevention of money laundering.
The third strategy is underway which also aims at preventing misappropriation of incentives on remittance besides money laundering.