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Bangladeshi workers send home record $13 bln

DHAKA — Bangladeshi migrant workers sent home a record $12.85 billion in the fiscal year ended in June as overseas jobs soared on the back of new opportunities in the Middle East, officials said Wednesday.

The figure was a 10.26 percent rise from the amount remitted by Bangladesh’s eight million-plus migrants in the previous fiscal year, central bank executive director M. Ahsanullah told AFP.

Ahsanullah said the much-needed foreign exchange, which accounts for more than 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), eased pressure on the nation’s balance of payment and bolstered the local taka against the US dollar.

The taka lost around 15 percent against the dollar since December last year after a balance of payment crisis that prompted the government to seek a $1 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in April.

Officials said a sharp rise in overseas jobs, mostly in the oil-rich Middle East helped raise remittances to a record figure.

Some 374,837 Bangladeshis flew abroad to work mostly in the manufacturing, construction, farm and service sectors in the six months to June this year, said the Bureau of Manpower and Employment Training.

Migration from Bangladesh fell sharply during the 2008-9 global economic downturn as jobs dried up in the Gulf nations and export-oriented southeast Asia.

According to government figures, eight million Bangladeshis now work overseas, although unofficial estimates put the figure at more than 10 million.

Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of 150 million, counts on the inflow of foreign exchange from migrant workers to fund its imports.