The government is likely to set aside Tk 4,000 crore in the upcoming national budget for 2021–22 to provide a 2 per cent cash incentive to encourage the inflow of remittance.

Finance ministry officials said that the remittance inflow in the fiscal year 2021–22 was expected to cross $25 billion.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is expected to announce the new national budget on June 3 in the Jatiya Sangsad.

In his first budget for 2019–20, the finance minister also announced a 2 per cent cash incentive for the first time to encourage the inflow of remittance.

Finance ministry officials said that Tk 3,060 crore was allocated in that budget to provide cash incentive.

In the current fiscal year too, the same amount of fund has been allocated for the cash incentive. But the demand for cash incentive in the upcoming fiscal year is likely to be over Tk 3,300 crore for a higher-than-expected inflow of remittance despite the Covid-19 pandemic, they said.

The country’s remittance earnings hit a record $20.67 billion in the first 10 months, from July to April, of the fiscal year 2020–2021, exceeding the total FY20 receipt.

In FY20 the remittance inflow reached a record $18.21 billion compared with $4.9 billion in FY06.