Bangladeshis working abroad sent home a record USD 35.56 billion in the 2025 to 2026 fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank, up from USD 30.33 billion the year before. A good part of that money reaches families in districts like Munshiganj, where for generations sons and daughters have left to work and study overseas, from New York and London to the Gulf.

Remittances keep households afloat, pay school fees and medical bills, and support the country's foreign exchange reserves. In the budget for 2026 to 2027 the government decided to keep the 2.5 percent cash incentive on money sent through formal banking channels. That is one more reason to use banks and licensed services rather than informal hundi.

From houses to enterprises

Yet anyone who travels through Bikrampur can see where much of the money ends up: in tall houses, many of them locked for most of the year, and in land bought at ever higher prices. Building a family home is a natural wish. But when nearly all savings go into buildings and plots, too little goes into the businesses that could employ the young people who stay behind.

Munshiganj has real strengths to build on. It sits beside Dhaka and, since 2022, at the northern end of the Padma Bridge. It grows potatoes on a large scale, has an established cold storage trade and a riverside industrial belt. These are areas where patient local capital, well managed, could add value: processing and packaging farm produce, cold chain and transport, small manufacturing, clinics and diagnostic centres, schools and training centres.

Trust is the missing piece

The main obstacle is not money. It is trust and distance. Many expatriates have stories of relatives who mismanaged funds, partners who disappeared, or land deals that ended in court. Solving that problem is the key to unlocking diaspora capital.

Some tools already exist. Non-resident Bangladeshis can buy the Wage Earner Development Bond and other government savings instruments, and the government has removed the upper limit on investment in the wage earner bond. These offer a secure return, but on their own they do not build local enterprises.

What we suggest

  • A Bikrampur investment desk. The district chamber of commerce and diaspora associations could set up a joint desk that screens local projects, checks land records and shares basic information with investors abroad.
  • Pooled, regulated vehicles. Instead of lending to relatives informally, groups of expatriates can invest through registered companies or cooperatives with audited accounts, independent directors and regular reports.
  • Use formal channels every time. Money sent through banks earns the incentive, leaves a clear record and protects the sender if there is a dispute.
  • Match money with skills. Professionals abroad, from accountants to engineers, can offer mentoring and governance to local entrepreneurs, which is often worth more than the capital itself.
  • Start small and prove it. A handful of well-run, transparent ventures will do more to build confidence than any large announcement.

Remittances already hold up many households in Bikrampur. With better structures, the same money can also build the enterprises that give the next generation a reason to stay, and give those abroad a reason to come back.

Sources: bb.org.bd, bb.org.bd, customs.gov.bd, en.wikipedia.org