Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladeshis working abroad sent home a record $829 million in July 2008, marking a 46.27 percent growth over the corresponding period the previous year, officials said.
The remittance earnings in the first months of the current fiscal year came as a continuation to last fiscal’s trend and record inflow of $7.939 billion. The growth in 2007-08 was 32.38 percent over the previous fiscal year.
The country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $5.82 billion on that day, thanks to a robust growth of remittances from Bangladeshis working abroad, they added.
“The monthly remittance figure of July is a new record in the country’s history after March, 2008” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka, adding that $808 million was remitted in March.
The official also said the bank expects an increase in inward remittances this month ahead of Eid festival.
In June 2008, remittances were worth $753.58 million, according to the central bank statistics.
The inflow of remittances continued to rise sharply due to massive growth in manpower export and implementation of the Anti-money Laundering Act that influenced the expatriates to use official channels instead of illegal channels to send money, they added.
More than 564,000 Bangladeshis found jobs in more than 100 countries during the January-July period in 2008. In 2007, over 424,200 Bangladeshis held overseas jobs, according to statistics provided by the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
BBN/SI/SI/AD-06August08-9:47 AM
