Published in The Financial Express on 15 March 2015.
KSA reopening, Qatar hiring pick-up could boost remittance
FE Desk
Remittance inflow is expected to get a boost next year after the reopening of Saudi labour market to Bangladeshis and pre-World Cup hiring by Qatar picks up steam, reports UNB.
Last month, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agreed to reopen its labour market to Bangladeshi workers lifting a seven-year ban imposed after the Arab country found anomalies in recruitment process and involvement of migrants in criminal activities.
Qatar also increased recruitment ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to man its construction projects.
The oil-rich kingdom still remains top destination for Bangladeshi migrants abroad and a key source of remittances as well.
But researchers say the KSA will primarily take female household workers, which will have little impact on the remittance flow. They said the Saudi decision would have left positive impact the remittance flow if Riyadh had allowed the entry of male workers.
Last year, total remittance was US$14. 94 billion, up from $10.7 billion in 2009 and $3.17 billion in 2003, the state-run Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training data showed.
Bangladesh earns highest remittance from the KSA. In 2013-14, the amount was $3.1billion US dollar, which decreased from $3.8 billion a year earlier.
Labour and employment minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said that the government would be able to send 200,000-250,000 people to the KSA this year and the number might increase in the coming years based on demand.
On February 10, the government signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia over sending Bangladeshi workers to the Arab nation under 12 categories. The recruitment agencies will bear all the costs of the labourers.
Moreover, on March 2 after a visit to Qatar, Mr Hossain said Qatar will recruit 150,000 additional workers from Bangladesh this year without migration fee.
Additional director, research of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Khandaker Golam Moazzem said remittance inflow will go up, provided workers can go smoothly with lower migration cost.
“If we are able to send manpower in large volume to Saudi Arabia, the Bangladesh labour market will be established anew. And of course it will have a positive impact on the country’s remittance flow,” he said.
The workers will able to send money back more quickly as migration cost will be very low as per the agreement, he said.
“I think the relevant ministry should look into the issue seriously so that people can migrate with less migration cost,” he added.
At the end of January, total overseas employment reached 9.17 million, of which more than 400,000 people went abroad with jobs in 2013 and 607,796 people in 2012 and 568,062 in 2011.
Tasneem Siddiqui, founding chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit said “I think it wouldn’t put any impact on the remittance flow considering the present circumstances as the manpower market of KSA is open only to female Bangladeshi workers. The market for male is yet to be opened.”
“We’ll see the positive impact only when the market is open for the male workers,” it added.
As per the agreement between KSA and Bangladesh, the kingdom will take only household workers primarily and later they will take workers on 12 categories.