Remittance has been the key element of the economic growth of the city and also the region. The money is mainly sent by expatriates of Sylhet living abroad, particularly the United Kingdom, where the majority of the diaspora Bangladeshi community originate from Sylhet. These foreign Bangladeshis are now looking to invest in the city. During the fiscal year of 2005-06, the flow of remittances increased by 25% to $4.8 billion, mostly from expatriates of Sylheti origin living in the United Kingdom with significant contributions from expatriates in the United States. That amount was expected to increase to $5.5 billion in 2007, with the government's attention toward supervising and monitoring banks. The amount of idle money lying with the commercial banks in Sylhet as deposits is about 4,000kuti taka, which is not common in the rest of Bangladesh.
Although Sylhet is a small city in comparison to the capital, it has been transformed drastically over the years. The construction industry in Sylhet is currently booming, with many shopping centres and apartments being built to luxurious standards. It has been described as one of the wealthiest cities in the country . The skyline of the city is mainly dominated by large buildings of western-style shopping malls, which has been the largest investments made by the expatriates. There are many new restaurants and stores, often themed on those found in London, which have been established to cater to the visiting Sylheti expatriate population and the growing Sylheti middle classes. These include, Garden Tower in Uposhohor, the London Mansion, Sylhet Millennium, Blue Water (named after Bluewater Shopping Complex in the UK), London Fried Chicken (from Perfect Fried Chicken) and Tessco (misspell from the original Tesco). New hotels have been established, the Rose View Hotel and the first Apartment-Hotel and resort in Bangladesh, called Grand Sylhet, are both the only five-star hotels in the city. Large multinational companies
