Bangladesh: Overseas Workers Remitted $829M To Bangladesh In July

August 5, 2008 11:42 a.m. EST

Siddique Islam - AHN South Asia Correspondent

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - 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 on Tuesday.

"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), the country's central bank, told AHN, adding that $808 million was remitted in March.

The official also said the bank expects an increase in inward remittances this month prior to the 'Id festival.

In June 2008, remittance were worth $753.58 million, according to BB statistics.

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.

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