United States Census Bureau (USCB) data reveals that the number of Bangladeshis living there at the end of 2021 was about 264,000. Out of this, employment has been a little more than 1 lakh 52 thousand. The average annual income per household of Bangladeshis living in the country is slightly less than 68 thousand dollars. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), the average cost per household in the country in 2021 was about $67,000. Accordingly, Bangladeshi household income earners living in the United States earned slightly more than the country’s average per household income over the course of the year. Taking this account into account, the surplus or savings of Bangladeshi families should not be too much. Although these Bangladeshi expatriates are now the country’s biggest source of remittances.
According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, in the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year 2022-23, remittances from the United States to Bangladesh amounted to 304 Crores 73 lakh 70 thousand dollars. Accordingly, every Bangladeshi sent an average of $2,000 remittance to Bangladesh every month from the United States. Although the Bangladeshi people living there say that it is almost impossible for most of the Bangladeshi expatriates to send 2 thousand dollars to the country every month to cover the cost of living.
Analysts say that a large part of Bangladeshis who go to the United States are there as students. It is not possible for students to send such a huge amount of money to the country to cover the tuition fees and living expenses of US universities. In addition, inflation in the country is now rampant. As such, the fact that such a large amount of money is coming to Bangladesh as remittance from the country is surprising. Furthermore, a recent report by the Washington-based think tank Pew Research Center revealed that 19 percent of Bangladeshis living in the United States are in poverty. Some bankers suspect that money laundering may be behind the US’s rise to the top spot as a source of remittances. According to them, it is also possible that someone secretly smuggles black money to the United States and brings it back to the country as legitimate income as remittances. They think that it is necessary to look deeper into this matter.
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