Govt mulls incentives for expats
The government is planning to provide incentives to expatriates sending remittances through official channels as part of a strategy to increase foreign exchange, Expatriates' Welfare Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan said yesterday.
"Last year the money sent by the migrants was $10.72 billion. Almost the same amount comes through unofficial channels. If incentives are provided, remittance through official channels will go much higher," he said at a discussion on the eve of May Day.
However, he did not mention any mechanism of providing the incentives. In different sectors like readymade and jute, the government provides certain percentage of cash incentives on export earnings.
In the wake of global economic meltdown, the government last year provided stimulus to different sectors, but not the migrants who returned in thousands from different countries after losing jobs.
Zafar said though the expatriate Bangladeshis' official remittance is some 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the government investment is very little, while there is also no good data on them.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a discussion titled "Migrant Workers' Rights: Living with Safety and Dignity" organised by Bangladesh Migration Development Forum, a platform of the NGOs working on migration, with support from ActionAid Bangladesh at the National Press Club in the city.
The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment will request the authorities concerned to include the migrant population when the national census starts next year. There should be rules that the children of the migrants have quotas in good educational institutions, the secretary said.
Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, suggested including expatriates' issue in the five-year perspective plan and enrolling the migrants as voters soon.
"One to three percent of the remittances sent by them should be used for their welfare," she said.
Prof Ishrat Shamim of Dhaka University suggested that union parishads make a list of all migrants for use in development planning and addressing problems.
Dr AQM Mahbub of the university suggested formation of a welfare society for the returnee migrants as is there for the army.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said around 60 percent of the migrants go abroad with visas collected by their relatives or brokers.
"But, the recruiting agencies have to process them. Now, if the visas were fake, is it the recruiting agency that will compensate," he said, suggesting that the government streamline the issue.
Shamsun Nahar Aziz Lina of Shakkor and Syed Mahbub Elahi of Ovibashi Karmi Kallyan Forum presented a keynote, while Rabeya Sultana and Lutfun Nahar of ActionAid spoke at the discussion.
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