Dhaka- Bangladesh has recorded a rise in remittance inflow, from its over 6 million expatriate workers, despite a global recession that forces massive job cuts around the world, central bank officials said Saturday.

The South Asian country received over 860 million dollars in remittances in January, the highest in the last seven months and almost 22 per cent more than the same month in 2008, according to a provisional estimate released by Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladeshi expatriates, most of whom are employed in oil-rich Middle East countries, sent home over 710 million dollars in January 2008.

The country received nearly 9 billion dollars in remittances in 2008, 31 per cent more than the year before.

Initially, economists and trade experts feared job losses by Bangladeshi workers in the Middle East because of the falling oil prices in the wake the economic meltdown, but now say the impact of the global financial crisis is not yet evident in Bangladesh's economy.

"Maybe, it is because the Arab countries are less affected than European and [North] American ones," economist Atiur Rahman of Dhaka University said.

"If the latest economic stimulus package planned by the administration of [US President Barack] Obama clicks, then the scenario will be changed overnight," said Rahman.

"The inflow of remittance will maintain its impressive growth unless these expatriate Bangladeshis lose their jobs on a massive scale," said Mustafizur Rahman, a trade expert at non-governmental think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue. (dpa)