Bangladesh Targets $31 billion from Remittance by 2015

Right now, according to government estimate, nearly seven million Bangladeshi people are working abroad. They send around 10/11 billion US dollar as remittance earning for the country. Bangladesh government has set a target of earning 31 billion dollar  by 2015. This information was stated in a seminar on "Prospect of Manpower Export and Search for New Labour Market" in Bangladesh.

Eng Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Minister for Ministry of Labour & Employment , Anisul Islam Mahmud, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on expatriates welfare ministry, FBCCI President AK Azad and Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director of CPD were among the notable speakers present in the seminar.

The speakers discussed about the problems that Bangladeshi workers are facing while going abroad. One of the major problems is that on an average, a worker of Bangladesh has to pay much more than a worker in India to go and work in another country. The second problem is that most of these 7 million workers are mainly staying in the Middle Eastern countries. The prospect of increase in jobs for Bangladeshi workers in the Middle East is not that bright at the moment because Bangladesh has almost filled its quota of workers. So, Eng Khandker Mosharraf Hossain called to look for other markets.

Mustafizur Rahman of CPD stated that if the government wanted to get its $31 billion target of remittance earning by 2015, the government should try for the sector more. He also stated that the government had to invest in this market so that the skill of workers can improve.

It is not impossible to get this target of $31 billion by 2025. There is indeed a lot of potential for growth because many people still send money in illegal channels rather than the banking channel. So, if government can take necessary steps to encourage and motivate Bangladeshi workers living abroad to send money in the proper and legal channel then remittance earning can increase substantially.

Perhaps, even a bigger challenge is to ensure that after the money comes to Bangladesh to families and relatives, the money is properly utilized. This is a huge amount of money and this money should be used in the productive sector as much as possible. If this money is mainly used in unproductive sectors like buying lands and apartments or making shopping malls, then it will only contribute to increase the inflation rate. On the other hand, if this huge money can be used in productive sectors like setting up factories and high quality educational institutes then it can really make a difference for the country in a very short time.