Dhaka, Jan 13 (IANS): Bangladesh's overall remittance reached nearly $7 billion during the first half of the current fiscal (July 2013-June 2014), a central bank official said Monday.

Quoting provisional data, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) official, who preferred to be unnamed, said "inflow of remittances from Bangladeshis fell by about 9 percent year on year to $6,778.57 million in the first half of 2013-14 fiscal year," Xinhua reported.

The official said the flow of inward remittances in the last month was 5.50 percent lower than that in the same period a year earlier.

According to the official, the country's political instability surrounding the Jan 5 parliament elections, among other factors, has taken toll on the inflow of remittances.

The inflow of remittances by millions of non-resident Bangladeshis in the 2012-13 fiscal year reached a record high of nearly $15 billion, about 13 percent higher than the same period a year ago.