Over 11,500 migrant Bangladeshis in Libya have already returned on transport arranged by the government or the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Foreign Secretary Mohammad Mijarul Quayes said.

The return of these workers, along with those leaving Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, is likely to have a lasting impact on Bangladesh's fledgling economy, the analysts said.

"Our economy is poised to suffer in both the short and long term due to the increasing volatility in countries that employ millions of Bangladeshis," said Mustafizur Rahman, the chief executive of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a leading think tank.

Bangladesh, which suffers from high inflation, poor investment and growing concerns on a number of political and economic issues, is greatly dependent on remittances from its 7.2 million overseas workers.

The government is targeting 6.7 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fiscal year to June, while struggling to reduce poverty that still affects around 40 percent of the country's population of more than 150 million.

The expats sent home about $11 billion in the year to June 2010, and the government and manpower exporters had expected a higher volume of foreign exchange income in this year by sending out more workers.

Remittances from overseas workers are the south Asian country's second-biggest source of foreign exchange income after its exports of readymade garments, which fetched more than $16 billion in the last fiscal year (to June 1010).

"But the outflow (of workers) has reduced drastically while we are struggling to cope with the growing number of returnees," an official of the state-run Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training told Reuters on Saturday.

"Most of them came home empty-handed. Some even had no money to travel home from the (Dhaka) airport," the official said.

As the crisis deepens, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and Quayes left Dhaka on Saturday to see the humanitarian and repatriation efforts going on the Libyan border, as well as in other countries affected by the democracy and freedom movements, a foreign ministry official said.

The majority of Bangladeshi expats work in the Middle East and African countries, more than 100,000 in Libya alone.

Another 10,000 had been ready to go to Tripoli soon but have put their plans on hold because of the anti-Gaddafi revolt, officials said.

Over 3,000 Bangladeshis who fled to Egypt from Libya will be repatriated in a couple of days, Quayes told Reuters before flying out. Around 16,000 more who took refuge in Tunisia will be brought back by next week, he added.

Manpower exporters said at present around 20,000 Bangladeshis are stranded in Bahrain.

Abul Bashar, president of Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies, said: "The recruiting process to send manpower to Egypt, Bahrain and Libya has now been stalled."

Mustafizur added: "It may have a long-term impact on our manpower business. So we should look for new employment markets immediately."

"The government should take immediate measures to absorb the shock in the economy," he told Reuters.