In spite of the war on Iraq, Bangladesh witnessed a significant growth in remittance and fresh overseas employment till June this year.
Remittance increased by 16 per cent in the first six months of the calendar year over the corresponding period of last year. The overseas employment also went up by 28.49 per cent, according to sources.
When the war began the government had thought of evacuating several lakh Bangladeshi workers from Kuwait. But that did not require because the war concentrated on Iraq.
A total of Tk 9,297.40 crore was remitted by the Bangladeshi expatriates during January-June period this year as against Tk 8,021 crore during the same period of last year.
On the other hand, more than
1.14 lakh people left Bangladesh for employment abroad till June this year as against 89,143 persons during the same period of last year.
The government officials expect remittance earning to cross three billion US dollars at the year-end, posting around 20 per cent growth.
Based on the current trend, the officials predict the number of people going abroad for jobs to reach 2.50 lakh this year, as against 2.25 lakh people who went to various countries, mostly the Middle Eastern states, last year. More than 80 per cent of them went to the Middle East availing jobs that include cleaner, construction worker and farm labourer.
However, the manpower export to Kuwait remained stopped for a few weeks during the US attack on Iraq in March.
Other than the Middle East, a significant number of workers
went to Singapore and other countries in the Far East, Africa and Latin America for the first time this year.
According to sources in the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry around 1,400 people went to Singapore this year for job purposes.
When contacted, State Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Mohammad Quamrul Islam attributed the growth in remittance earning to the enactment of money laundering law and government's various steps for encouraging expatriates in sending money through official channels.
He said the remittance flow would increase further after introduction of more welfare-oriented programmes for the expatriates like pension scheme and dollar bonds.