Bangladesh's foreign currency reserves hit a record above four billion dollars Tuesday on the back of booming exports and earnings sent home by workers living abroad, the central bank said. "The reserve hit an all-time high figure of 4.09 billion dollars on Tuesday. It will continue to rise this week," Bangladesh Bank general manager Amzad Hossain told AFP.
Bangladeshis last year sent home a record 5.46 billion dollars, a year-on-year increase of 28 percent. The impoverished country's export sector also saw more than 26 percent growth to 6.2 billion dollars in the first six months of the 2006-2007 fiscal year, thanks largely to nearly 30 per cent growth in textile exports. The fiscal year in Bangladesh ends in June. According to official figures, more than five million Bangladeshis now live or work abroad, mainly in oil-rich Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.