Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Foreign Remittance Income in Bangladesh: Opportunities
and Challenges
Sheikh Abdur Rahim1 & Md. Asraful Alam2
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Daffodil International University, Bangladesh
2
Senior Administrative Officer, ASA University Bangladesh, Bangladesh
ABSTRACT
A remittance is a transfer of money by a foreign worker to his or her home country. Remittance can also refer to the
accounting concept of a monetary payment transferred by a customer to a business (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Remittances have been playing a very significant role for the overall economic development of Bangladesh. Therefore,
this paper attempts to explore the actual remittance income and its impact on overall economy of Bangladesh. Recently,
the world has suffering from the global financial crisis. That is why, the job opportunities are shrinking drastically for
the last couple of years. As a result, the government of Bangladesh is now facing tremendous challenges to send people
abroad for employment. Thus, this paper also attempts to clearly articulate the opportunities and challenges of remit-
tance income in Bangladesh and suggested some possible courses of action to face these challenges with smart at hand.
Keywords: Remittance, Income, Opportunity, Challenge, Bangladesh.
1 INTRODUCTION
R emittances have already been emerged as a prime
driving force to the economic growth and poverty
alleviation in Bangladesh. It has obtained second po-
family members.
According to Bangladesh Bank Research Report (2012),
sition among the foreign currency earnings sector of Ban- among the migrant workers, 47 percent have gone to
gladesh. (Bangladesh Bank, 2012). Formally, the export of abroad by lending money from others and 41 percent
manpower from Bangladesh has been started in 1976. In have gone by selling land or leasing land to others. A
this year there are fourteen thousand people gone to the large part of these migrant workers is unskilled or semi-
Middle East for searching employment and in this year skilled. As a result, they have sent a large part of their
these people had sent 5 crore USD remittance to Bangla- income to Bangladesh. Most of the migrant workers fami-
desh. After that, the amount of remittance and the num- lies are maintaining activities with this money. The gov-
bers of migrant workers have been increasing gradually. ernment becomes more beneficial than family members of
migrant workers. The government gets huge foreign cur-
The export of manpower is one of the most significant rency. The foreign remittance income is not only increas-
foreign currency earning sectors of Bangladesh. It contri- ing foreign currency reserve but also playing a significant
butes our national economy in a large measure by increas- role to reduce poverty and to enhance the economic de-
ing foreign exchange reserve, per capita income and em- velopment of Bangladesh (World Bank, 2012). Bangladesh
ployment opportunities. The remittance which has sent by would be middle income country within 2021 depending
the migrant workers is the 11 percent of the total GDP on the foreign remittance income (Minister, Ministry of
(Gross Domestic Product) in Bangladesh. Beside this, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, 2012).
these remittances are 7 times higher than the amount The foundation of economy of Bangladesh becomes
which has got the government of Bangladesh as foreign stronger with the help of valuable and hard –working
aid and 13 times higher than the amount which got the money of migrant workers. The flow of amount of remit-
government of Bangladesh as foreign investment. There tance would be one thousand four hundred crore USD
are approximately 90 lakh Bangladeshi workers working (Immigration and Development Division, World Bank,
in 155 countries in the world (Ministry of Expatriates’ November 20, 2012). The position of Bangladesh is se-
Welfare and Overseas Employment, 2012). Most of the venth in the world remittance income. Bangladesh obtains
workers are inhabitant of villages and granaries in Ban- the position in the world remittance income to the next of
gladesh. They don’t get any government cooperation and India, China, Philippine, Mexico, Nigeria and Egypt. The
subsidy. They have no higher education, training, and contribution of migrant workers has been playing a very
asset. But these people are pulling-up the economy of the significant role to the development of socio-economic
country by hard working in abroad. They are living far condition in Bangladesh (General Director, BMET, 2012).
away from their family members and they have been de- The remittance income of migrant workers is not only
priving themselves from the love and affection of their increasing foreign currency reserve of Bangladesh Bank
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 22 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
but also developing their standard of family life. The overseas remittances achieving a favorable balance of
power of investment of these migrant workers is increas- payments and as well as creating a new resources base for
ing day-by-day in Bangladesh. the country. A large portion of remittance income is spent
for consumption purposes, acquisition of assets, invest-
1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ment in trade and business and to finance import of capi-
tal goods in Bangladesh. It has been positively affecting
The present research study has been undertaken with the
the socio-economic condition of migrant families.
following objectives:
I) To investigate and find out the remittance income
Remittance income of Bangladesh is recorded as the
of Bangladesh;
second highest foreign currency income. Bust if the cost of
II) To know the significance of remittance income for import of raw material is adjusted, then the net earning
the economic development of Bangladesh; from migrant workers’ remittance is higher than that of
III) To explore the potential opportunity of remittance the garments sector. According to Bangladesh Bureau of
income in Bangladesh; Statistics (BBS), in 2012, net export earning from RMG is
IV) To find out the problems of remittance income of USD 11.287 billion, whereas in November, 2012 the earn-
Bangladesh; and ing from remittance is net USD 12.87 billion. But the gov-
V) To recommend some suggestions based on findings ernment expects that the remittance income will cross
to overcome the barriers of remittance income in USD 13 billion at the end of the year 2012 (Bangladesh
Bangladesh. Bank).
1.2. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Remittances are not a new thing in the world. It beings a
Due to time constraint, the authors could not collect normal concomitant migration, which has always been a
enough information from the secondary sources. The part of human history. Several European countries such as
main limitation of the study is that the authors could not Spain, Italy, and Ireland were heavily dependent on re-
use primary data/information to analyze the study and mittances received from their immigrants during the 19th
find out the concrete results relating to opportunities and and 20th century. In the case of Spain, remittances
challenges of remittance income of Bangladesh. amounted to the 21 percent of all its current account in-
come in 1946. All of those countries formulated policies on
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY remittances developed after significant research efforts in
the field. For instance, Italy was the first country in the
This research study has been conducted and analyzed on world to enact a law to promote remittances in 1901 while
the basis of secondary data and information. The sample Spain was the first country to sign an international treaty
period of these secondary data and information is 2003- with Argentina in 1960 to lower the cost of the remittances
2012(November). These data and information were col- received (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).Bangladesh
lected from different A-ranked journals, articles, pub- needs to enact a law in the Parliament through proper
lished books, conference proceedings, newspapers, and discussion with all the stakeholders to protect this valua-
magazines. A large part of this research report’s data and ble sources of income.
information was collected from the website of Bangladesh
Bank, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Em- Based on the above literature, it is clear that an extensive
ployment, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Train- research is needed for the government and migrant work-
ing, and the World Bank. ers of Bangladesh. For this very reason, the researchers
have selected this topic to conduct the current research
This research paper focused on two things. First, it high- study.
lights the remittance income of Bangladesh. Later, it in-
vestigates and find out the opportunities and challenges 4. MEANING OF REMITTANCE
of remittance income in Bangladesh. Adobe Illustrate® has
been used in data processing and Microsoft Office® pack- A remittance is a transfer of money by a foreign worker to
age has been used in tabular, chart, and graphical repre- his or her home country. Remittance can also refer to the
sentation of data and information. accounting concept of a monetary payment transferred by
a customer to a business (Wikipedia, the free encyclope-
3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE dia). A person who was exiled and has sent money to his
or her home country, called remittance.
Remittance has been playing a very significant role to the
sustainable economic development of a developing coun- Dilip (2002) defines workers’ remittances as the sum of three
try like Bangladesh. The government has used remittance components: (I) workers’ remittances recorded under the
to pay the different government and non-government heading “ current transfers” in the current account of the
import bills and the installments of different foreign debt balance of payments; (II) compensation of employees which
and donation. Salim (1992) point out that remittances are includes wages, salaries, and other benefits of border, sea-
used to make import payments and are used for produc- sonal, and other non-resident workers ( such as local staff of
tive investment by the government. Ali (1981) identified embassies) and which are recorded under the “ income” sub-
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 23 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
category of the current account; and ( III) migrant transfers earning huge money in abroad. With these remittances,
which are reported under “ capital transfers” in the capital the government has been compensating trade deficit. The
account of the IMF’s Balance of Payments Yearbook ( item determinants of remittance in Bangladesh include em-
codes 2391,2310, and 2431 respectively). ployment in abroad, GDP growth, exchange rate and oil
price. These determinants are strongly influencing on the
4.1. SIGNIFICANCE OF REMITTANCE INCOME FOR level of remittance inflow of Bangladesh. Hussain and
BANGLADESH ECONOMY Naeem (2009) point out the following things:
Remittances have been continuously playing an increa- 1. Each additional migrant worker brings in $ 816 in
singly large role to the economic growth and the livelih- remittances annually;
oods of people in Bangladesh. Remittance income is more 2. Every dollar increase in oil price increases annual
valuable for any developing country like Bangladesh. Puri remittance by nearly $ 15 million;
and Ritzema (2001) tell that remittance is the portion of 3. Depreciation of exchange rate by one taka increases
international migrant workers’ earnings sent back from annual remittance by $ 18 million; and
the country of employment to the country of origin, play a 4. Remittances are higher during periods of low eco-
central role in the economies of many labor sending coun- nomic growth.
tries. Osmani (2004) tells that remittances have been iden-
tified as one of the three factors that have been responsible 4.3. MIGRATION PROCESS IN BANGLADESH
for reducing the overall incidence of poverty in Bangla-
desh. The demand of migrant workers remittances has The process of migration in Bangladesh is shown in the
following figure:
now increased tremendously in Bangladesh in a number
of reasons. These are as follows:
Migrant Recruiting
1. Remittance contributes to our national economy is a agency in
large scale by increasing foreign exchange reserve, Bangladesh
per capita income and employment opportunities.
2. It has been continuously lifting-up the GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) of Bangladesh. In 2012, the remit-
tance which has sent by the migrant workers is the 11
percent of the total GDP of Bangladesh.
3. Remittance has been continuously keeping the contri-
bution to alleviate the poverty of Bangladesh through
Broker in Employer in
micro-enterprise development, generating substantial
host country host country
employment and income.
4. The government has been paid various government and
non-government import bills and installments of differ- Figure -1: The Migration Process in Bangladesh
ent foreign debt & donation from the remittance income. (Source: UNDP-Bangladesh Migration and Remittances
5. Remittance income helps the government of Bangla- 080120.doc, Page-6)
desh to reduce dependency on foreign aid.
6. Remittance helps to improve the balance of payment In the above figure we can see that recruiting agencies are
position of Bangladesh. playing a very significant role in the migration of Bangla-
7. Remittance also contributes to the expansion of finan- desh. These agencies must be licensed by the government
cial market activities and the development of pay- of Bangladesh. They collect information about the de-
ment systems through enhancing direct capital flows mand for jobs in abroad from the brokers in the host coun-
and distributing those funds to users end and for in- tries who are directly related with the prospective em-
vestment or finance consumption purposes. ployers (See Figure-1). The prospective migrants are facili-
8. The government of Bangladesh is using remittance tated by the recruiting agencies in securing passports,
income to build schools, colleges, universities hospit- making travel arrangements and obtaining clearance from
als, roads, & highways, bridges, culverts, etc. the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training
9. Remittance income is positively the socio-economic (BMET). The recruiting agencies had organized them-
condition of migrant families. selves under the Bangladesh Association of International
10. Remittance income makes more strong local currency Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) to enhance their interest and
(Bangladesh) against US dollar. interact with the government in 1984. The government of
Bangladesh had established the Bangladesh Overseas
4.2. DETERMINANTS OF REMITTANCE INCOME IN Employment Services Limited (BOESL) to compete with
BANGLADESH private agencies in operating direct recruitment.
Bangladesh has been continuously received robust remit-
tance because migrant workers are working hard and
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 24 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4. FLOW OF LABOR MIGRATION IN BANGLADESH (2003- flow of labor migration in Bangladesh was so good in the
2012, NOVEMBER) years 2007 and 2008. After that, the flow of labor migration
is decreasing up to the year 2012 ( November) due to the
economic recession, collapse of the construction and other
Edition Number of Labor Mi- business sectors in the Middle East countries and stopped
gration the Malaysia labor market for Bangladeshi migrants and so
2003 254190 on. Again, the flow of labor migration of Bangladesh is in-
2004 272958 creasing in the years 2011 and 2012. So, this is very good
2005 252702 news for migrants and government of Bangladesh.
2006 381516
2007 832609 4.5. FLOW OF REMITTANCE IN BANGLADESH (2003-2012,
2008 875055 NOVEMBER)
2009 475278
Edition Remittance ( B.D in Billion USD)
2010 300702
2003 3.18
2011 568062
2004 3.56
2012 ( Novem- 575389
2005 4.25
ber)
2006 5.48
2007 6.57
Table-1: Flow of Labor Migration in Bangladesh (2003- 2012,
November) [Source: Kalerkantho, January 10, 2013 (Special Issue) 2008 9.01
2009 10.72
The above table shows that the flow of labor migration in 2010 11.00
Bangladesh has been increasing until the year 2008. In 2011 12.17
case of labor migration in Bangladesh, the 2007 and 2008 2012 ( November) 12.87
editions were good because the record numbers of work- Table-2: Flow of Remittance in Bangladesh (2003-2012, No-
ers have gone to abroad these years for employment. Lat- vember)
er, it has been continuously to decline over the next two Source: Kalerkantho, January 10, 2013 (Special Issue)
consecutive years because of global financial crisis. Due to
the global financial crisis, the owners of business organi- The above table shows that the flow of remittance income
zations in the Middle East countries are bound to close of Bangladesh is increasing.
their business operations. In addition to Middle East Although the flow of labor migration is decreasing after the
countries, the owners of other countries in the world are year 2008 but the flow of remittance income of Bangladesh
also bound to close their business operations because of is increasing. The reasons are that the government and pri-
global economic crisis. As a result, the flow of labor mi- vate recruiting agencies have taken various initiatives such
gration in Bangladesh has been declining drastically in the as pre-departure training (language, culture, custom, value
years 2009 and 2010. Again, the flow of labor migration system, rules & regulations of the host countries), monitor-
has been increasing in the years 2011 and 2012. Thus, the ing (within and outside the country) and diplomatic & high
government should find out the new-new labor markets profile discussion with the government and private owners
to enhance the export of labors in the upcoming years. of the host countries. Through these activities, the govern-
ment and private recruiting agencies can send more people
The flow of labor migration in Bangladesh can be shown abroad which will increase the remittance income of Ban-
in the following figure: gladesh. The flow of remittance in Bangladesh can be
shown in the following figure:
Figure-2 Flow of Labor Migration in Bangladesh (2003-2012,
November) Source: Authors’ calculation based on Kalerkantho Daily
News Paper, January 10, 2013 (Special Issue) Figure-3: Flow of Remittance Income in Bangladesh (2003-
2012, November) Source: Authors’ calculation based on Kalerkantho
The above figure shows that the trend of labor migration of Daily News Paper, January 10, 2013 (Special Issue)
Bangladesh is gradually increasing up to the year 2008. The
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 25 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The people who want to go to abroad for job are suf-
The above figure shows that the flow of remittance in- fering from information problem because most of
come of Bangladesh is increasing in trend over the year these people are illiterate and they don’t know from
2012 (November). The reason is that the government and where they can collect more authentic information in
private recruiting agencies have taken various initiatives this regard.
to send skilled, competent and trained workers to abroad. 2. The people who want to go to abroad for employment
That is why, although the flow of labor migration is de- are suffering from financial problem because most of
creasing but the flow of remittance income is increasing of these people are poor and they don’t have ample re-
Bangladesh. sources. However, the non-government cost of migra-
tion is very high in Bangladesh and it is almost im-
5. CHANNELS OF REMITTING IN BANGLADESH possible to bear by these poor people.
Both the formal and informal channels are using by Ban- 3. The people who want to go to abroad for doing job
gladeshi migrants to send their remittances to their rela- are suffering from efficiency problem because most of
tives at home. Among the formal channels, two channels the migrant workers of Bangladesh are unskilled and
are common, such as draft issued by a bank or exchange low-skilled. That is why, they can’t perform their as-
house and electronic funds transfers into accounts. Some signed task & duties with effectively & efficiently like
government banks such as Sonali Bank Limited, Janata the migrant workers of other countries in the world.
Bank Limited, Agrani Bank Limited and Some private 4. Bangladeshi migrants are suffering from training
commercial banks such as Bank Asia Limited, Prime Bank problem. They don’t get any training from the private
Limited, AB Bank Limited, United Commercial Bank Li- and government recruiting agencies before pre-
mited, Mercantile Bank Limited, Citibak N.A. and Social departure.
Islami Bank Limited are very much active in the remit- 5. The migrant people of Bangladesh are regularly fac-
tance market. Among the informal channels, the most ing passport collection problem because with the in-
used channel is hundi system. The sender and remitter are troduction of machine readable passport people are
avoiding tax and violating foreign exchange rules & regu- compelled to travel all the way from their village and
lations that may facilitate money laundering. wait a week to get their passport.
6. Migrant workers of Bangladesh often face emergency
DFDI and Bangladesh Bank have been selected BURO
problems like cheating, frauds and so on within and
Bangladesh to act as a channel to transfer fund to the reci-
outside the country.
pients from the foreign remitters. The title of the project is
7. Migrant workers of Bangladesh are regularly encoun-
“Capacity Building to Enable BURO to provide Remit-
tering various problems in sending remittances, espe-
tance Services to Commercial Banks”. The aim of the
cially to the remote areas of the country, through
project is to establish BURO, in collaboration with the
formal channels because the process of sending remit-
community, with a strong positive image among the most
productive and efficient bridges between the commercial tance through banks is slow and complicated.
banks and community in remittance industry. The goal of 8. Bangladeshi migrants are regularly harassed and
the project is to enable BURO to deliver remittance related sometime physically oppressed in the various airports
services to commercial banks. There are 325 remote of the country.
branches already established along with the terminal facil- 9. Migrant workers of Bangladesh are regularly facing
ities include Electronic Funds Transfer Point-of-Sale and a investment problem because of chaotic political envi-
Computer Package with internet connectivity. IFAD has ronment.
already given award to BURO Bangladesh for a new 10. The present pre-departure legislation of Bangladesh is
project to expand the remittance services to extreme rural quite vague and complicated and it creates tremend-
areas. ous problems for migrants.
6. CHALLENGES FACING BY BANGLADESHI 7. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
MIGRANTS The remittance is the second largest income sector of Ban-
The migrant workers of Bangladesh have been contribut- gladesh, next to the export sector (Ministry of Expatriates’
ing immensely to the economy with strong positive im- Welfare and Overseas Employment, Bangladesh and Ban-
pact on growth, employment, foreign reserve and balance gladesh Bank Report, 2012). The government of Bangla-
of payments. The country’s imports would have to be desh has been paying the various government and non-
drastically cut down or its current account deficit rose to government import bills and the installments of various
highly unsustainable levels without foreign remittance. foreign debts & donations from the remittance income.
But these migrant workers are regularly facing various The remittance income has also contributed to boost up
types of problems within and outside the country. The the foreign exchange reserve, per capita income and em-
following problems are facing by Bangladeshi migrants ployment opportunities. Thus, the government should
within and outside the country: take the following necessary measures to save the signifi-
cant income generating sector of Bangladesh:
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 26 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I) The government should establish information the remittance money will spend in consumption
booth or center in Union, Upzila and Zila Parished purpose by the family members & relatives of the
throughout the country so that the people can col- migrant workers.
lect relevant necessary information from these X) The government should formulate clear and precise
booths/ centers. The government of Bangladesh pre-departure legislation so that the migrant work-
should also establish these opportunities & facilities ers can easily understand which will encourage
in abroad where migrant workers are employed. If them to follow.
the government could establish these opportunities XI) Migrant workers face lots of problems in abroad
& facilities for the migrant workers within and out- due to lack of information, knowledge & education.
side the country then the people would be able to The government and private recruiting agencies
reduce their problems and it will create trust & con- should expand their training centers in different
fidence on government. parts of the country in order to reduce this problem.
II) The government should set-up the certain amount The return workers may help prospective workers
as expenditure that have to be submitted by the mi- by giving basic knowledge like how to use toilets,
grant workers to the recruiting agencies and it must how to talk/ behave with employers, how to pro-
be applicable for both the private & public recruit- ceed in the airport and others, which will minimize
ing agencies. In addition to that the government the conflicts between employers and migrant work-
may provide financial subsidy & bank loan to mi- ers that creates a bad reputation of Bangladeshi
grant workers. However, the government should workers.
eliminate additional taxes to workers.
III) The government should establish different training 8. OPPORTUNITIES OF REMITTANCE INCOME IN
& learning centers so that the migrant workers BANGLADESH
could learn about language, behavior, culture, Bangladesh has earned a record amount of foreign remit-
norms, values, behavior, working & geographical tance amounting more than $ 14 billion and exported the
environment and so on before going to abroad. The second highest number of workers to Middle- East Coun-
private recruiting agencies have also to establish tries (Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Em-
different training & learning centers in order to ployment Report, 2012). It has been indicated that the de-
train –up their sending people before pre- mand for blue-collar workers are increasing day-by-day in
departure. Asian countries, especially Middle -East and South-East
IV) The government and private recruiting agencies Asian countries. The World Cup Football 2022 will be
should send the trained people abroad so that they held in Qatar. That is why, the authority of this country
can fight & survive with the migrant workers of wants to import huge number of labor from Bangladesh.
other countries in their working place. Thus, the government of Bangladesh should start diplo-
V) The government should take quick decision to dis- matic and high profile discussion with the government of
tribute passport according to particular village or Qatar immediately to catch the labor market of this coun-
district in a particular day or time. If government try so that the government can export huge number of
could distribute passport from the respective vil- labor to Qatar and earn ample foreign remittance. Beside
lage or district in particular day or time then the this, the government should take necessary steps to open
cost and time for getting passport would be more the labor market of Kuwait for fresh migrant workers of
affordable. The government may use information Bangladesh promptly and should also arrange bilateral
technologies to facilitate the process. and multilateral discussion with the other countries of the
VI) The government should arrange emergency phone Middle-East which will help the government to expand
numbers and services for migrant workers within the labor market in the Middle-East countries.
and out the country and should these provide to
them so that they contact and seek assistance. Recently, Malaysia has been agreed to take labor from
VII) The government and private banks should increase Bangladesh. Now, the government is trying to collect re-
the speed of their services throughout the country quired number of qualified labor through mass campaign
and also decrease the paper work & documenta- from every district of Bangladesh. In this case the gov-
tion, which make it very simple & easy for less edu- ernment should be very much careful so that the Malay-
cated or illiterate migrant workers to send their re- sian labor market will not be stopped again for Bangla-
desh migrants. In addition to Malaysia, the government of
mittances through formal channel.
Bangladesh should arrange bilateral and multilateral dis-
VIII) The government should take necessary legal actions
cussion with the government of other Asian and Middle-
against those people who are involved with undis-
East countries so that our migrants will get more em-
ciplined activities in the airports of the country.
ployment facilities in these countries.
IX) The government should create investment friendly
environment in order to use the remittance money The shortage of certain skilled professionals in industria-
in productive sector. Otherwise, the large part of lized countries such as information technology experts
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 27 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 2/2013 (Issue 4)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and computer specialists, nurses, medical doctors, etc. is income of Bangladesh and its opportunities and chal-
an important factor behind the increase in demand for lenges.
skilled manpower. In recent years, the OECD countries
have encouraged immigration of high skill people Third, this study has conducted to find out the overall
through immigration incentive policies such as H-1 pro- remittance income of Bangladesh. A further study may be
fessional Visas in the U.S. and special visas for informa- conducted to find out the country wise or continent wise
tion technology experts in Germany and other countries. remittance income of Bangladesh and also to find out the
In this regard, the government of Bangladesh emphasis on individual country or continent problems and opportuni-
developing the skill level of potential migrants through ties which are regularly facing by migrant workers of
various training program so that the Bangladeshi mi- Bangladesh.
grants will get migration opportunities in the OECD and
other countries in the world. Finally, this study has conducted on male and female mi-
grant workers of Bangladesh. But gender-wise remittance
Still today, the African Continent is under the un-invented income has not studied. Thus, a study may be conducted
condition. Now, the government of developed countries on male and female migrant workers of Bangladesh sepa-
has been drawn special attention to develop the various rately to find out their contribution towards the remit-
countries in this continent. Thus, the government of Ban- tance income of Bangladesh.
gladesh should start bilateral and multilateral discussion
immediately so that Bangladesh can export huge labor to REFERENCES
the various countries of African Continent. In addition to [1] Ali, S.A (1981). An Analysis of the Institute of Home Remittance
this, the government should start diplomatic and high by Bangladeshi Workers Abroad on the National Economy in
profile discussion with the government of Latin American Labor Migration from Bangladesh to Middle East, The World
counties because there are tremendous opportunities to Bank Staff Working Paper No. 454, Washington, D.C
export Bangladeshi labor to these countries. [2] Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agents (
BAIRA) Report, 2012.
[3] Bangladesh Bank Research Report 2012.
9. CONCLUDING REMARKS [4] Bangladesh Bank: www.bb.org.bd
One of the most significant foreign currency earning sec- [5] Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training Report, 2012.
tors of our country is manpower exporting. The flow of [6] Bangladesh Economic Update, 2011 and 2012.
[7] Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2012.
remittance has influenced directly and indirectly by many [8] Hussain, Zahid and Naeem, Farria ( 2009). Remittances in Ban-
factors. One of the important direct factors is competition. gladesh: Determinents and 2010 Outlook, WealthDai-
There are many countries exporting workers abroad. ly.com/Income_Invest
Thus, Bangladeshi migrant workers must face tremendous [9] Kalerkantho Daily Newspaper, January 10, 2013, Dhaka, Special
competition with the workers of other countries in the Issue: www.kalerkantho.com
foreign land. For instance, the government of Bangladesh [10] Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment,
Bangladesh, Statistics, 2012.
should pay special attention to develop the skills of work-
[11] Osmani, S.R. (2004). The Impact of Globalization on Poverty in
ers and also should take necessary measures to build-up Bangladesh, ILO, Geneva and Dhaka.
the mutual trust and good relation with the various coun- [12] Puri, S and Ritzema, T. (2001). Migrant Workers Remittances,
tries in the world for saving the valuable income generat- Micro-finance and the Informal Economy: Prospects and Issues,
ing sector of the country. Working Paper No. 21, International Labor Office.
[13] Star Business Report, 2012.
[14] Salim, R. A. (1992). Overseas Remittances in Bangladesh: Impor-
10. FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION
tance, Potentialities and Policy Options, The Jahangirnagar Re-
Despite some limitations, the present study provides some view, Part II, Social Science: Vois. XIII & XIV, The Jahangirnagar
guidelines for future study which are as follows: University, Dhaka.
[15] United Nations Development Programs, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
First, this study has conducted only on data and informa- Bangladesh Migration and Remittances 080120.doc
[16] Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Latest Version.
tion from 2003-2012 (November). The amount of data and
[17] World Bank Report 2012.
information in this study is inadequate in comparison
with whole data and information. A similar study can be
conducted to know the real scenario of remittance income
of Bangladesh on the data and information from 1976 to
till date. Such study on extended data and information
either may accept or reject the present findings.
Second, this study is prepared by using only secondary
data and information to know the remittance income of
Bangladesh. Another study may be conducted by collect-
ing sufficient primary data and information with the
structured questionnaire to reveal the actual remittance
Copyright © 2012, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 28 | P a g e