Editorial
Remittance earnings give a boost
Now make good use of it
It is welcome relief to know that the country's remittance earnings reached a record high of $ 12.17 billion in 2011 with a 10 per cent increase over the level of the preceding year. It should provide a substantial boost to the economy helping the government, already saddled with fiscal deficit, to cushion its dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Now the challenge before the government is to put the earnings to best use to live down the strains on the balance of payment situation.
The year 2011 saw a reported surge in the outflow of migrant workers in many Middle Eastern countries. Severe political upheaval, however, put the economies in jeopardy in many host countries including Libya and Bahrain. That our migrant workers could gross this kind of earnings against such stunning odds makes the success all the more inspiring.
Given this background, we would like to emphasize that the government should cut back on its costly import of fuel for rental power plants since a freeze has been applied on this mode of power generation. There should be extensive belt tightening of government expenditure so as not to whittle down the foreign exchange reserves through unnecessary imports and foreign travels of government officials. Furthermore, imports of consumer and luxury products should also be brought under control for which we have to put a lead on hundi and induce our foreign wage earners to remit their money through authorized channels by a simplification of procedures.
In order to keep pace with the growing demand for trained workers, the government should step up its efforts to enhance skill levels of workers so that we have a larger share of manpower market. It is time we explored newer markets for our migrant workers.
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