Remittances facing a challenge
THE latest data coming out of Bangladesh Bank paints none-too-happy a picture on foreign remittances. Inflow of foreign exchange earned by Bangladeshi expatriate workers is down from the six largest destinations where our workers are employed. The combined remittance from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, United States, United Kingdom and Malaysia constituted more than 80 per cent of the total remittance basket for the last three years.
Over reliance on traditional markets has left the overseas manpower industry in disarray. That things have not been going right in the Mid-East is hardly any news. Last October, the UAE dramatically stopped issuing entry permits for Bangladeshi workers over identification and fake documents. By September, 2012 a mere 2,000 Bangladeshi workers found work in the country. While efforts have been made to keep the unscrupulous private recruiting agencies at bay by means of concluding government-to-government deals, they have not panned out satisfactorily. The snail’s pace with which recruitment is being done with Malaysia is hardly encouraging.
The fact that over a six-month period (January — June) of the current fiscal, our manpower exports have gone down significantly over the same period of the preceding year shows just how much we need to strive to regain some of the lost market. At the same time, exploring new markets must be treated as a priority by policymakers. We can hardly afford to remain nonchalant in exploring non-traditional markets since the annual US$15billion flowing into the country is crucial for economic development of the country.
THE latest data coming out of Bangladesh Bank paints none-too-happy a picture on foreign remittances. Inflow of foreign exchange earned by Bangladeshi expatriate workers is down from the six largest destinations where our workers are employed. The combined remittance from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, United States, United Kingdom and Malaysia constituted more than 80 per cent of the total remittance basket for the last three years.
Over reliance on traditional markets has left the overseas manpower industry in disarray. That things have not been going right in the Mid-East is hardly any news. Last October, the UAE dramatically stopped issuing entry permits for Bangladeshi workers over identification and fake documents. By September, 2012 a mere 2,000 Bangladeshi workers found work in the country. While efforts have been made to keep the unscrupulous private recruiting agencies at bay by means of concluding government-to-government deals, they have not panned out satisfactorily. The snail’s pace with which recruitment is being done with Malaysia is hardly encouraging.
The fact that over a six-month period (January — June) of the current fiscal, our manpower exports have gone down significantly over the same period of the preceding year shows just how much we need to strive to regain some of the lost market. At the same time, exploring new markets must be treated as a priority by policymakers. We can hardly afford to remain nonchalant in exploring non-traditional markets since the annual US$15billion flowing into the country is crucial for economic development of the country.
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