DHAKA: Bangladesh received $14.227 billion in remittances from citizens working overseas in the 2013/14 fiscal year that ended in June, the central bank said on Thursday, down 1.6 percent from a year earlier.
Remittances from millions of citizens abroad are critical for the South Asian nation and are a key source of foreign exchange, alongside garment exports, which account for 80 percent of total export earnings of around $28 billion a year.
Officials say remittances have dropped over the last few months because of political turmoil in the months leading up to an election in January.
Fewer Bangladeshis are also going abroad to work as jobs have dried up in traditional markets such as in Middle Eastern countries.
Inflows of remittances turned positive in February - the first year-on-year increase since last August.
Remittances along with strong export helped build foreign exchange reserves to a new record of $21.56 billion at the end of June.
Total inflows were worth $14.46 billion in the previous fiscal year.
A majority of Bangladesh expatriates are employed in Middle Eastern countries and almost 60 percent of the remittances come from there.
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