Staff Reporter :
The government has formed a two-member secretary committee to find out the reasons behind the recent fall in remittance inflow in the country.
Bank and Financial Institutions Division Secretary Md Eunusur Rahman and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Shamsun Nahar are the members of the committee which has been asked to submit its findings as soon as possible, officials said.
“Remittance inflow continues to fall over the last 15 months raising concern among the government policy-makers. So, the government formed a committee to find out the reason why remittance is falling,” Senior Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Overseas Bangladeshi workforce remitted $13.6 billion in 2016 as against $15.3 billion in 2015, showing an 11.13 per cent year-on-year fall, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
Mahbub Ahmed said, the committee has already launched their fact finding mission. They also held several meetings with the stakeholders to find out the root causes behind the fall.
“The committee is expected to submit its report in the next meeting of fiscal coordination council,” he added. According to a government report, over 8.6 million Bangladeshis work abroad in various jobs. The money they send home accounted for nearly 8.0 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
About 78 per cent of the total workforce has reportedly sent their money home through banking channel and 12 per cent through illegal channels.
“Remittance send by migrant Bangladeshi workers pays a crucial role in boosting rural economy and helping reduce in overall incidence of rural poverty. So, a drop in remittance flow is going to hit the economy badly,” Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, told The New Nation yesterday.
“The sharp drop in remittance inflow is worrying as remittance is playing a vital role in the country’s socio-economic development,” Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, “remittance helps boosting consumer spending, improving living standards of migrants’ families, alleviating poverty, creating jobs for rural population and building up foreign reserve. So, the ongoing fall in inward remittance must leave an adverse impact on Bangladesh economy.”
