Migrant Workers In Lebanon: Caught in the crunch

In the space of two years, Rubel Miah has seen the value of his wages at his job in Beirut plummet to one-fifth of what he could earlier convert to US dollars and send home to his family.

His wife, elderly parents, and siblings back home in Brahmanbaria's Nabinagar depend on his monthly remittance to pay for food and other needs.

But Rubel, a migrant worker in Lebanon since 2015, could remit money home only twice this past year as a crippling liquidity crunch in the crisis-hit country drastically limited access to US dollars, with workers like him suffering the brunt of the backlash.

"I earn around six lakh Lebanese pounds a month, which is supposed to be equivalent to around $400 as per the regular exchange rate. But that amount has been slashed down to almost nothing," said the 29-year-old cleaner.

The rapidly depreciating Lebanese pound used to be exchangeable for dollars at a fixed rate, but banks have now restricted withdrawals of the US currency and its value has plummeted on the parallel market.

This devaluation means Rubel actually gets only one fifth of his salary.

"Two years ago, my monthly income could be converted to around Tk 32,000. But the same earnings now fetches around Tk 6,000. It's hard to live here," said the frustrated youth, who sought the Bangladesh embassy's support to return home.

Like Rubel, around 1.30 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers in Lebanon have been facing acute financial hardship amid an economic downturn, worsened by its US dollar shortage due to the drop in cash injections from Lebanese expatriates abroad in the later part of last year, according to reports by international media.

These led to a drop in the Lebanon central bank's foreign currency reserves and thus to a shortage in dollars for businesses and individuals. Banks there then put restrictions on withdrawals of depositors and their transfers from Lebanese pounds to US dollars, media reports said.

For decades, Lebanon was one of the few countries in the world that maintained a fixed -- rather than floating -- exchange rate for its currency.

The Lebanese pound (or lira) was pegged at 1,507 to the US dollar, with the central bank subsidising the difference, as well as the import of many staple goods, from fuel to flour, said an Al Jazeera report in February.

Exchange houses and banks are now mandated by the government to trade at 3,900 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar. However, the 1,507 rate is still used for the purchase of some goods, such as fuel, the report stated.

On the other hand, Beirut-based The Daily Star reported the US dollar was traded at 8,900 Lebanese pounds on the black market on February 8.

On March 2, it was trading at nearly 10,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the black market, TRT World reported, citing AFP.

Plagued by this crisis, 5,990 migrant workers have applied for repatriation via the Bangladesh mission, as of yesterday, while several thousand others were waiting to be included in the registration process.

According to the Bangladesh mission in Beirut, as of yesterday, more than 4,600 of the registered workers have been repatriated in special flights starting from February 15.

WORKERS UNABLE TO PAY AIRFARE HOME

In the present situation, one needs to arrange more than three million Lebanese pounds to get $400on the black market -- which for some workers, is nearly impossible to save from a year's earnings, said 50-year-old Shahid Ullah.

Talking with this newspaper on March 5, Shahid was then waiting to be repatriated home.

He added that around 10,000 Bangladeshi workers, in addition to those already registered, were waiting to return home amid the present economic situation in Lebanon -- but many of them are unable to manage the $400 airfare.

As a result, many could not register their names for repatriation, said Shahid, who lived in Lebanon for more than two decades.

He urged the Bangladesh government to support migrant workers who are unable to pay airfare and partially reimburse those who have already paid the money for repatriation. Shahid has since returned to Bangladesh on March 13.

While registering undocumented workers for repatriation in December last year, the Bangladesh embassy in Beirut asked applicants to pay $400 as airfare (for adults aged above 18) alongside a fee or fine of 1.4 lakh Lebanese pounds.

The airfare payment had to be in US dollars, according to a notice of the mission posted on Facebook.

Asked, Abdullah Al Mamun, first secretary of the labour welfare wing at the Bangladesh embassy in Beirut, said the payment requirement in dollars was made by the airline concerned.

Over WhatsApp, Mamun, also the mission's head of chancery, told this correspondent they will continue the registration process in the coming days. Next month, the repatriation process is set to get underway for another 1,500 undocumented workers, he added.

Of around 1.20 lakh-1.30 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers currently living in Lebanon, 25,000-30,000 are estimated to be undocumented, said the official.

Another official at the embassy said more or less all Bangladeshi workers in Lebanon are facing the crunch due to the economic downfall.

Although the coronavirus pandemic put Lebanon in lockdown, the bigger problem is the existing economic and political crisis, he said, requesting anonymity.

He said although many workers' monthly earnings have recently increased, it proved to be "insufficient".

Lebanon's economy has been on the downturn while there was no effective formation of a new government. So, it could be said that the overall situation in Lebanon is undergoing a crisis, he added.

Shariful Hasan, head of Brac's migration programme, said Lebanon's economic fallout, the US dollar crisis, and lack of governance had been impacting Bangladeshi migrant workers for the last one and a half years.

It worsened after the Beirut explosion in August last year, he told this newspaper.

"Now, many [migrant workers] are on the brink of job loss. They are unable to meet daily expenses and want to return," he added.

Shariful said as Lebanon's economic revival is uncertain, Bangladesh should be careful and rethink whether it will send new workers there.

He said to resolve workers' financial issues, the ministry or embassy needs to approach their companies to ensure that airfare and dues are paid by the companies.

If a company fails to pay airfares due to bankruptcy, then the Bangladesh government has to arrange flights for the returning workers and consider paying their airfare, he added.

DECLINE IN REMITTANCE

Amid Lebanon's economic downturn, remittance inflow from the Middle East country dropped in the past couple of years.

Bangladesh received about $126.85 million in remittance from Lebanon in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

Inward remittance from Lebanon dropped to $86.99 million in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and in the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, inward remittance from Lebanon was $36.71 million, according to the central bank data.