Malaysia said it will resume hiring foreign labourers from Bangladesh from August, saying the move would benefit both countries.

Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, parliamentary secretary at the Home Affairs Ministry, said the there were sectors of the economy that depended on the Bangladesh workforce, the state news agency Bernama reported.

"The government also took into consideration Malaysia's economic contribution to the people of that country, so that's why we considered the decision," he said.

The government announced in July 2005 that the freeze on Bangladeshi workers in place since 1996 would be lifted this year.

Labourers from Bangladesh once represented a huge chunk of the cheap labour force in Malaysia but their intake was halted after they were blamed for crime and social issues including the abandonment of Malaysian wives.

Over-reliance

Abdul Rahman said last year that the country had a total outflow of RM18 billion (US$5.14 billion) due to its force of some foreign workers which currently number some 1.8 million.

The number of foreign workers in Malaysia is expected to reach 5.0 million by 2020.

Malaysia relies on foreign workers to power its construction and agriculture sectors but the government is ambivalent about their presence, fearing an over-reliance on cheap labour as well as the impact on Malaysian society.