Remittance inflow has been recorded high as the coronavirus situation has improved worldwide and the country has recently sent many migrant workers. The remittance inflow has led the country to a smoother economy.
Although the month-wise overseas employment in January and February of 2022 decreased, the number of overseas employment in different countries of the world has increased in March.
Manpower exporters and economists said that Middle Eastern countries are the main manpower export markets for Bangladesh. Demand for manpower export has grown significantly as the world’s economy has rebounded from coronavirus crisis.
According to the Bangladesh Manpower Employment and Training Bureau (BMET), 120,316 Bangladeshi workers got jobs in different countries of the world in March.
Of these, 78,870 people went to Saudi Arabia, 12,357 in UAE, 727 in Kuwait, 14,389 in Oman, 1,631 in Qatar, 46 in Lebanon, 1,990 in Jordan, 23 in Sudan, 12 in Malaysia and 6,797 in Singapore, 352 in South Korea, 26 in London, 110 in Italy, 9 in Japan, 5 in Brunei, 211 in Mauritius, 11 in Iraq and 1,083 people in other countries.
In the last 3 months, a total of 322,583 workers went to the different countries from Bangladesh. Of them, 109,689 people went in January, 92,569 went in February and 120,316 people left the country for overseas employment in March.
According to BMET data, 146,895 people went in the first 3 months of 2021, but at the same time in this year, more than 2.5 lakh workers have migrated abroad.
A total of 206,057 people have gone to Saudi Arabia in the last 3 months, which was 63.88 percent of the total manpower export. It was followed by 41,617 people in Oman and 39,827 people in UAE.
According to BMET, 11,211 women manpower have gone abroad. Of them, 6,618 women went to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the decline in remittances that took place last February has also gained momentum in March this year.
According to the latest report of Bangladesh Bank, expatriates sent $1.86 billion remittances in March, which was nearly 25 percent higher than February's $1.49 billion remittance.
This important index of the economy increased in last December and January after declining for five consecutive months (July-November 2021).
Expatriates sent $1.49 billion in February. The remittance inflow was $1.63 billion and $1.70 billion respectively in December last year and January this year.
Serajul Islam, Executive Director and spokesperson of the Bangladesh Bank, told Bangladesh Post, “During Ramadan, people spend extra on some essential purchase. Remittances are increasing as people started sending extra money to the family for Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitre.”
He expects at the end of the month, remittances will reach $2 billion. There are two Eid festivals ahead, he said, adding that remittances will increase in the coming days.
Economists and bankers said that since the first day of the New Year, the government has increased the cash incentive for remittances from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
This has had a positive effect on this index, they said, adding that more remittances are coming from the Middle East countries as the economy of the Middle East has recovered due to the increase in the price of fuel oil in the world market.
About 1.15 crore expatriates living in different countries play an important role in the country's economy by sending remittance. The contribution of remittance to the country’s GDP is about 12 percent.
The country received $22.07 billion in remittances in 2021, which was the highest in one year in the history of Bangladesh.
This inflow was $21.78 billion in 2020 and $18.33 billion in 2019.
In this context, economist Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed said that the developed countries of the world, including the Middle East, have begun to overcome the pandemic crisis. Jobs have been created in different countries, he added.
“The flow of remittance has started increasing,” he mentioned.
In this context, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Director General (DG) Shahidul Alam said the government is working to send workers to Malaysia. The process will start soon.