WE are deeply troubled by the news of falling remittances from our migrant workers. In fact, remittances from more than 10 million migrant citizens are very important for the economy of Bangladesh as foreign remittances along with export of readymade garments are the two main pillars of our foreign exchange income. Saudi Arabia has been the largest source of remittance, followed by UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Iraq, Singapore, Malaysia, USA and UK. Remittance is declining despite a significant rise in the number of migrant workers, said a World Bank Bangladesh Development update report. The number of workers going abroad reached 0.68 million in 2015-16 financial year up by 48 per cent while remittance declined by 2.54 per cent to $14.93 billion.
Remittance became a major contributor to the Bangladeshi economy and as the migrant workers from Bangladesh gradually increased over the years, the amount of annual remittance to the country significantly rose. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh is now one of the largest recipients of remittance with almost $15 billion as of June 2015. I would request the government to take all possible measures to stop remittances from declining any further.
Md. Samiul Islam
East West University
[email protected]
- Saturday, 23 November 2024 |
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