About 62 percent of the remittances Bangladesh received in the first 11 months (July-May) of the outgoing 2025-26 fiscal year came from five countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia and the United States. Large numbers of Bangladeshi workers and expatriates in these countries account for the big share.
An updated Bangladesh Bank report shows expatriates sent a total of $32.77 billion in remittances from around the world in the first 11 months of the last fiscal year, of which $20.25 billion, or about 62 percent, came from the top five countries.
Saudi Arabia sent the most, $5.28 billion, or 16 percent of the total. The United Kingdom was second with $4.69 billion. The UAE was third with $4.28 billion, Malaysia fourth with $3.22 billion and the United States fifth with $2.79 billion.
Significant amounts also came from Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Singapore and Italy. These six countries together sent about $8.89 billion in 11 months, or 27 percent of the total. In all, about 90 percent of remittances came from 11 countries.
May alone saw a notable flow, with expatriates sending $3.44 billion. The most, $650.9 million, came from the United Kingdom, followed by Saudi Arabia with $546.5 million and the UAE third with $468.1 million.
Saudi Arabia was the single largest source of remittances in 10 of the first 11 months of the last fiscal year, but the United Kingdom overtook it in May. In July last year, remittances from the UK were $282.5 million; they rose steadily by 130 percent to reach $650 million in May. Bangladesh Bank has not yet released June figures.
The government has been encouraging expatriates to send money through banking channels, offering an incentive on remittances sent this way, which discourages illegal channels such as hundi. The process of sending money through banks has also been made easier, with a positive effect on the flow.
But financial-sector figures say relying on just five countries for nearly three-fifths of total remittances is sensitive from an economic-security standpoint. With mostly unskilled and semi-skilled workers in Middle Eastern countries, remittances from there are not always stable, they say, while the stronger social and economic position of expatriate Bangladeshis in the UK and the US brings more stable inflows.
Any major change in the economic policy, geopolitical situation or labor markets of these five countries could directly affect Bangladesh’s remittances and, in turn, its foreign-exchange reserves, experts say. They stress the need to reduce dependence on a few countries by sending skilled manpower to new labor markets in Europe, East Asia and the Far East.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report