Remittances up 1.1pc in August on year

Money sent home by Bangladeshis working overseas in August rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier to about $1.19 billion, the central bank said on Thursday.

The figure was lower than $1.39 billion netted in July, when remittances fell 7 percent from a Remittance-450x325year earlier in the first annual dip since February.

Millions of expatriate Bangladeshis remitted $15.31 billion in the financial year that ended in June, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier.

Remittances from more than 10 million citizens abroad are critical for the South Asian nation and are a key source of foreign exchange, alongside garment exports, which account for 82 percent of total export earnings of $31 billion a year.

Steady inflows of remittances in recent years have helped build foreign exchange reserves, which stood at an all-time high of $26.17 billion at the end of August.

Most Bangladesh expatriates work in the Middle East and Gulf countries, from which come almost 60 percent of the remittances. ($1=77.80 taka) (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 – Reuters


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