Steady flow of remittance gives us hope

It's heartening to know that Bangladesh has been witnessing a steady flow of inward remittance over the past few months, defying grim predictions triggered by the pandemic and its impact on overseas labour migration. The country has earned a record USD 1.2 billion in remittance in the first 15 days of November, according to the finance ministry. In October, it earned USD 2.11 billion, which was the third-highest monthly flow in history, behind July's USD 2.59 billion and September's USD 2.15 billion. Overall, from July 1 to November 12, remittance inflow stood at USD 9.69 billion, up 43.42 percent from USD 6.89 billion year-on-year. Such a performance is indeed cause for optimism, and we commend the government for introducing the two-percent cash incentive for money sent through formal channels which is partly responsible for the recent uptick in official remittance flows.

The migrant workers are, of course, the real heroes. They continue to bring in foreign currency even in the middle of a pandemic, with little recognition of their efforts and often little support from the officials and manpower agencies concerned. The challenge for the government now is to ensure the upward trend holds in a post-pandemic reality, when things begin to settle into business as usual. Besides the cash incentive scheme, the current trend has been also linked to diversion of remittances from informal to formal channels due to the difficulty of carrying money (through the hundi system) under travel restrictions, as per a recent World Bank statement. It has been also attributed to laid-off workers bringing back all their savings and some expats in North America and Europe keeping their money in Bangladeshi banks that offer some interest on their deposits, as opposed to the almost zero interest in their host countries. Clearly, a host of factors—not just one, as the finance minister has claimed—worked in favour of Bangladesh, making it post the highest year-on-year remittance growth of 53.5 percent among the top 49 recipient-countries in the third quarter of 2020.

We urge the government to conduct a calmer appraisal of the situation and prepare for all possible scenarios in the coming months, when global trade likely returns to normal. It should make remittance earning part of a wider strategy that protects the long-term interests of prospective and existing migrant workers, revitalising its manpower and labour wings so they can play a more supportive role. We have already seen how laid-off returnee workers had to suffer without support at home and how outgoing workers struggled at every stage of their return journey because of the incompetence and red tape of the administration. This doesn't inspire confidence. The government's actions must match its rhetoric about the contribution of the migrant workers.