Remittance grows over 26pc in 8 months

The amount of inward remittances crossed $4.8 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, marking more than 26 percent rise over the same period of the previous fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics.
The country received $4.827 billion in remittances during the July-February period of fiscal year 2007-08 compared to $3.824 billion during the corresponding period of FY2006-07.
Meanwhile, the country's foreign exchange reserve reached a new high at $6,015.52 million as of yesterday, mainly due to robust growth of remittance and the donor agencies -- World Bank and Asian Development Bank -- that have recently paid $100 million and $50 million respectively.
According to BB, Bangladeshi nationals working abroad remitted $676 million in February which was $710 million in January. The monthly remittance figure of January was a record in the country's history, BB sources said.
The country's private and state-owned commercial banks are trying their best to increase the flow of inward remittances from different parts of the world, including the Middle East, United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore to meet their growing demands for foreign exchange, sources said.