A high point in forex earning

The rising trend has been possible due to a combination of factors. These are increase in the number of skilled non-resident Bangladeshis earning higher wages, devaluation of the taka, meaning more of local currency to a dollar which encourages remitters to send more money to beneficiaries, various positive and practical measures taken by the banking sector which look upon remittances as profitable business and implementation of the provisions of the Money Laundering Act at the behest of Bangladesh Bank.

As much as we are happy with the overall state of foreign remittances, we strongly feel that there is still considerable scope of further increase in the flow of remittance. The yearly remittance made by the Bangladeshis abroad might well be averaging $ 7 billion a year and yet a substantial amount of it comes through hundi as observed by none other than the Governor of the Bangladesh Bank.

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Despite the positive trend, problems do exist with regard to remittance by low wage earners due to imposition of a flat rate of charges irrespective of the amount of remittances. We need to give special emphasis on serving their needs by bringing down the charges for them. Already we find that many of the countries that were traditional employers of our manpower are now hiring more from other countries. On the one hand our visa arrangements and other travel related documentation continue to be cumbersome and fraught with many inadequacies; on the other, many of the host country agencies fail to stick to the contractual arrangements with individual employees which often result in underpayment of wages and violation of other service terms and conditions.

A hands-on manpower export policy based on exploration of new markets is the need of the hour.