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Give migrant workers incentives

RMMRU chief suggests in an interview with Be Jaiiu^tar

PORIMOL PALMA
Migration expert Dr Tasneem Siddiqui has suggested that incentives lor the workers sending money home through official channels could give a boost to remittance, which ultimately will create scope for productive investments.
Initially, incentives at a rate of five percent, now meant for garment exporters, will encourage migrant workers to a great extent in this regard, she points out.
"Authorities can make arrangements that part of any remitted amount along with incentives be saved so that banks provide better loan facilities for productive investments to the expatriates when they return home,” Siddiqui told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview yesterday on the eve of a remittance fair.
The fair begins at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka today.
Best service providers in remittance, recruitment and best remittance users will be awarded at the fair, aimed at strengthening banks-migrant workers ties.
Professor Siddiqui is founder chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unity (RMMRU) of Dhaka University.
Siddiqui, who teaches political science at the university, has a number of research books on labour migration, remittance and its utilization to her credit.
“I put it like this: our migrant workers send annually around $25 billion. They send $5 billion in terms of goods, $10 billion in hundi (unbfficial channel) and the rest through official channels,” she said.
According to official data, $9.2 billion was sent home last year by more than 60 lakh Bangladeshis working abroad.
Migrants use unofficial channels mainly because they get better rates, and of course they find it cumbersome to follow banking procedures, Siddiqui said.
In this context, the expert points to some negative aspects of hundi. She said if the expatriates send money this way, the gov-
ernment will be deprived of benefits of the huge amount of foreign currencies that strengthen the central bank's reserve and help maintain balance of account.
Besides, traders use hundi money to import products, showing low prices of imported goods in invoice, she said “Thus, the government is also deprived of huge import duty. With hundi, the recruit ing agencies or manpower brokers buy work visas, which is totally illegal and the root of major problems in recruitment system.”
“Who knows that the hundi would not be used for illegal activities like arms trading and smuggling?" she raised the question.
The RMMRU chief also pointed to the fact that the money that the families of migrants get through hundi is used in a very unplanned manner.
“They spend a major portion of the money in buying food and land besides building houses, and partly for luxuries Finally, when the migrants return, they don't find a little remaining to be utilised for income-generating activities,” Siddiqui said.
This trend must change, the migration veteran said, adding: “We suggest that a worker should have two bank accounts before going abroad for job. One account will be personal and the other is for his or her family. The first one may be used for saving money and the latter for sending money for the family."
When migrants return home, banks can offer various investment products for them, which will ultimately lead to incomegenerating schemes turning them into entrepreneurs, Siddiqui said.
“Thus migrants' hard-earned money'will help them upgrade their financial status," she said.
The banks, therefore, will also have to come forward to make banking procedures flexible and the government has to take the policy decision on migrant incentives
“It's a migration decade, so we have to make the best use of it. This needs innovative approaches,”TasneemSiddiqui said.