Bangladesh remittances hit record $865.25 million in January

Money sent home by Bangladeshis working overseas hit a record of $865.25 million in January, up 21.8 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said on Sunday.
In July-January, the first seven months of the 2008/09 financial year, remittances from more than 5.5 million expatriate Bangladeshis totalled $5.37 billion, around 30 percent higher than the same period of 2007/08.
Analysts have expected the inflow of remittances to slow down as the global credit crisis and recession in the developed world put jobs at risk. However, the central bank said the remittances would be affected only if instability in financial markets persists.
The expat incomes, a key source of foreign exchange for the impoverished south Asian country, hit a record $7.91 billion in the 2007/08 financial year that ended in June, nearly a third higher than the previous fiscal year.
The bulk of remittances for the majority-Muslim Bangladesh come from Middle-Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, followed by the United States and United Kingdom.
Remittances are Bangladesh's second-biggest source of foreign income after ready-made garments, which earned $10.7 billion in the 2007/08 fiscal year.