DHAKA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Bangladeshis in the past 2017-18 fiscal year (July 2017-June 2018) remitted home nearly 15 billion U.S. dollars, the second highest yearly amount so far the country has received since its independence in 1971, a central bank official said Wednesday.

Quoting provisional data, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) official told Xinhua that the flow of inward remittances surged about 17.30 percent year on year to 14,978.86 million dollars in 2017-18 fiscal year.

According to the official, previous yearly highest remittance for Bangladesh was 15.3 billion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year of 2014-15.

The official who did not like to be named said the increase in total inflow of remittance in the 2017-18 fiscal year were due mainly to boom in overseas employment in some Middle East countries and devaluation of Bangladesh currencies against the U.S. dollar.

Officials said Bangladesh has strengthened its efforts to send more Bangladeshis abroad with overseas employment.

Bangladeshi Minister of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Nurul Islam had earlier announced that the country plans to send some 1.2 million Bangladeshis abroad with overseas employment this year.

Remittances, which account for around 11 percent of the country's GDP, mainly come from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, among others.

The inflow remittances from nearly 10 million Bangladeshis, living and working in over 100 countries and regions, in the last 2016-17 financial year amounted to 12,769.45 million dollars.