DHAKA: Bangladesh received $1.167 billion in remittances from overseas workers in August, up nearly six per cent from a year earlier but slightly down from the second highest monthly high of $1.2 billion in July, the central bank said on Monday.

The remittances rose 10 per cent to $12.84 billion in the financial year that ended in June from a year earlier and central bank governor Atiur Rahman was hopeful of the same pace of growth in the current fiscal year.

Remittances in the first two months of the current financial year rose 11.9 per cent.

Bangladesh received a record monthly high of $1.22 billion from migrant workers in January. The country's foreign exchange reserves rose for the third month in a row in August to hit a new record high as a result of a rebound in exports and remittances.

Remittances from about eight million citizens are critical for impoverished Bangladesh and are key sources of foreign exchange alongside garments, which account for 80 per cent of its total export earnings of around $24 billion a year.