Editorial
Upswing in remittances
Explore newer avenues
LOOKING at the bright side of things, the central bank reported that Bangladesh received a record $14.46 billion of remittance in the last fiscal year. Two-thirds of the remittance came from the Middle Eastern countries, and this year's remittance is 12.59 per cent higher than that of last year.
While this great news for Bangladesh's economy it doesn't necessarily mean that the allowance of ex-pats have increased in the past year but rather the infrastructure for transferring funds to Bangladesh has improved significantly. More banks have branches in foreign countries and they have also gained the trust of their customers abroad.
The credit here should go to those banks that have done an excellent job of expanding their reach and promoting and providing their services to the workers overseas. Hopefully, this will obviate remittance of money through informal channels.
The remittance figure does not necessarily reflect an increased volume of manpower export. The Middle East's new policy on legalising a good portion of the foreign workers who lacked proper immigration papers has surely brought in greater sense of security for the overseas wage-earners.
We hope this positive trend will continue and be built up on through exploration of newer markets for our manpower and diversification of skills.
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