Low-interest credit for jobless migrant workers returning home

Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment has taken an initiative to provide fiscal support to Bangladeshi expatriates who are evacuated from aboard for retrenchment of workers due to the global economic downturn in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

A total of two lakhs of Bangladeshi migrant workers have either been evacuated or returned home so far because of forced repatriation and loss of jobs amid pandemic across the globe.

Besides, 50 lakh Bangladeshi workers are passing days in deep crisis abroad as they are facing forced repatriation, loss of jobs, limited access to food and healthcare, according to the expatriate welfare ministry sources. Only Tk 5 crore has already been spent due to the Bangladeshi destitute workers by the ministry.

As part of the ministry plan, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad said the government will provide a low-interest credit for Bangladeshis expatriates who have returned home from aboard.

To weather the coronavirus impact on the expatriates, the finance ministry will allocate Tk 200 crore incentive packages in the next fiscal year budget, he said.

Besides, he said the foreign ministry’s activities will be improved as the Bangladeshis expatriates do not return home from their foreign countries upon losing their jobs.

Meanwhile, expatriates ministry is also contemplating another 2% hike in incentives for expatriates who send money from aboard.

In the next fiscal year budget allocation the finance ministry will allocate Tk 3,000 crore to this end that the incentive would significantly increase the remittance flows through the legal channels and discourage the illegal channels like ‘hundi’ business.

In the last Fiscal Year of 2019-20, the government introduced an incentive of 2 percent on money remitted by expatriate Bangladeshis to encourage bringing in foreign remittance through legal channels. In this purpose, the government allocated Tk 3,060 crore in this fiscal year budget.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, the budgetary measures have made the significant increase in the remittance flow to 18 billion US dollars in 2019-20 Fiscal Year through legal channels.

According to the World Bank (WB) report, released on April 24, Bangladesh's inward remittances might fall by around 22 percent in 2020 riding on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The volume of Bangladesh's inward remittances is likely to reach US$ 14 billion at the end of 2020, compared to over 18 billion dollars in 2019, WB said in its report on 'Covid-19 Crisis Through a Migration Lens' on Wednesday. 

"In Bangladesh, remittances are projected at 14 billion dollars for 2020, a likely fall by 22 percent," the WB report revealed.

According to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) data, over 1.2 crore workers have migrated to 170 countries and they send remittances of $ 16 billion annually. Over 80 percent of migrants were employed in the Middle East and East Asian countries, said officials.

/sk/wi/teb