Money sent home by Bangladeshis working abroad hit a new record of $715.5 million in January, up from $635.3 million in December, the central bank said on Sunday.
In July-January, the first seven months of the 2007/08 financial year, remittances from more than 5 million Bangladeshis working abroad totalled $4.16 billion, 25 percent higher than the same period of the previous year.
Booming economies in the Middle East and the Gulf region, as well as an ageing population in European countries and rising skills of Bangladeshi workers were driving demand for Bangladeshi labour, official said.
Remittances hit a record $5.98 billion in the 2006/07 financial year that ended in June, 24.52 percent higher than the previous fiscal year.
The Bangladesh Bank expects the inflow of remittance to touch an annual $10 billion over the next two years, boosting a key source of foreign exchange for the impoverished majority-Muslim country. The Bangladesh Bank has been making vigorous efforts to encourage expatriates to send money home through legal channels, officials said.
It has expanded drawing arrangements, working with 38 Bangladeshi banks and 229 foreign banks and exchange houses. The banks have ensured the quick delivery of remittances to beneficiaries in Bangladesh.
The number of Bangladeshis leaving to work abroad was at a record high last year even though Malaysia recently stopped admitting Bangladeshi workers, officials said. The majority of the expats work in the Middle East, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Singapore.