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With a 10 per cent participation of expatriates in the Universal Pension Scheme (UPS) by depositing minimum instalment of Tk 5,000 per month, the government can receive $ 0.66 billion per annum.
As per the Probash Scheme, an expatriate can deposit minimum Tk 5,000 and maximum Tk 10,000 per month. Currently, there are 1.20 crore expatriates and if 10 per cent or 12 lakh of them deposit Tk 5,000 per month, the government can attract $0.66 billion annually.
And if they deposit Tk 10,000, the fi gure will be $1.32 billion in a year. According to the Bangladesh Bank, the exchange rate for 1 dollar was Tk 109.50 yesterday. If this happens, the newly unveiled UPS will increase the amount of government funds and contribute to boosting the country’s foreign reserves simultaneously.
Over the past two fi scal years, remittance fl ows to Bangladesh averaged $22 billion per year.
The government however will raise approximately $1 billion in foreign reserve each year if only 10 per cent of the expatriate workers pay an average of Tk 7,500 monthly fee under the UPS and would raise Tk 5 billion if half of the expatriates pay the same monthly amount.
As per this calculation, the country would raise $50 billion foreign reserve in the next ten years, if half of the expatriates pay the monthly amount as the government has no obligation to pay the pension users within ten years. And will also have the opportunity to use this money for profi table investments.
On August 17, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the Universal Pension Scheme for four classes of people in the country. All citizens of the country will have the opportunity to get pension benefi ts. It is anticipated that the expatriates will be more interested in the scheme as most of the expatriates get cheated while sending money from abroad.
The newly launched scheme will expand their savings opportunities for a secure future as the ‘Probash’ scheme for expatriates off ers the highest fee payment limit compared to other schemes. The minimum rate of monthly subscriptions under this scheme was fi xed at Tk 5,000 and Tk 10,000 at the maximum rate.
The payments of the Probash scheme should be paid in the foreign currency normally. The expatriates can pay in local currency when they completely return home. According to the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment, currently, around 1.20 crore expatriate workers are working in nearly 174 countries across the globe.
Moreover, if 20 per cent of the expatriates pay Tk 5000, Tk 7, 500 or Tk 10,000 monthly, it will generate $1.32 billion, $1.97 billion and $2.63 billion, respectively in a year. At the same time, if 30 per cent of expatriates contribute to the scheme, it will generate $1.97 billion, $2.96 billion and $3.95 billion respectively in a year.
And if 40 per cent of expatriates contribute it will be $2.63 billion, $3.95 billion and $5.26 billion, respectively.
Area of the Probash Scheme
If half of the expatriates contribute Tk 5,000 monthly, they will contribute Tk 3,600 crore or $3.29 billion by the end of a year, if they contribute Tk 7,500, they will accumulate $4.93 billion and if they contribute Tk 10,000 it will be $6.58 billion in a year.
If all expatriate workers are included in the pension scheme, an average contribution of Tk 7,500 per month will generate around $10 billion annual savings which will grow into $100 billion in ten years. Although currently the number of expatriate workers is 1.20 crores, it is increasing every year.
According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), a total of 11,35,873 workers from Bangladesh went abroad in 2022. In the next ten years, the number of these workers will increase signifi cantly.
More workers would likely join the scheme in the future creating immense opportunities.
While announcing the budget for the current fi - nancial year, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the country would be in a very good position shortly; the dollar crisis would also decay.
Regarding the introduction of the Universal Pension Scheme, the minister said “There will be abundant of money once the Universal Pension Scheme gets launched. Income will come. In addition, various ways are being created to increase income.”
If an expatriate makes a minimum monthly subscription of Tk 5,000 as pension at the age of 18 and makes regular contributions up to the age of 60, then aft er retirement i.e. at least till the age of 75, he will get a pension at the rate of Tk 1,27,327 per month.
If a subscriber pays this minimum contribution for 10 years, he/she will get a pension of Tk 7,651 per month. If he/she contribute Tk10,000 for 42 years, will get a pension of TK 3,44,655 per month and if anyone pays a minimum of 10 years, he/she will get a pension of Tk 15,302.
Speaking to The Business Post, Golam Mostafa, Additional Secretary of the Finance Department and member of the National Pension Authority said, “The government has launched a separate scheme for expatriates in order to facilitate the path of assured investment for expatriates. Moreover, a pension scheme has been introduced to provide benefi ts to all the citizens of the country.”
He said that money sent by expatriates is not safe in many cases. They spent their whole life in exile and sent income back home. But when they came back, they found that the money they had sent was not deposited. Then they have to spend your days with empty hands. In this case the Probash scheme for expatriates is safe investment. Already in this scheme, the expatriates have met quite a lot.
Research and Policy Integration for Development Chairman Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque said overall the pension scheme is a positive initiative. It is good for all people living in the country. However, the implementation of this programme is very challenging. It is not clear how this initiative will be implemented.
