Foreign Remittance is the money that is sent by the migrant workers of Bangladesh working in different foreign countries. The contribution of migrant workers has been playing a very significant role in the development of socio-economic condition of Bangladesh. The remittance income from migrant workers not only increase foreign currency reserve of Bangladesh Bank, but also strengthens the position of Bangladesh in the world remittance income statistics. The economic foundation of our country becomes stronger and stronger with the help of valuable money of hard-working migrant workers.

Bangladesh has been earning a lion portion of foreign currency from exporting manpower to many countries for the last five decades. The export of manpower to foreign countries from Bangladesh formally started in the year 1976. At that time workers went to the Middle East in search of jobs. The migrant workers send their laborious income to their family and relatives in Bangladesh. It contributes to our national economy in a large measure by increasing foreign exchange reserve, per capita income and employment opportunities.

There are approximately 11.46 million Bangladeshi workers working in 155 countries of the world. Most of the workers are inhabitants from villages in Bangladesh. They hardly get any government co-operation, guidelines, training or subsidy. Most of them have no higher education or any asset. Many do not even have any education or literacy. Yet they go to earn a living far away from their family and friends. These people are pulling-up the economy of the country by their hard work abroad. Often they have been depriving themselves from the love and affection of their family members.

Among the total migrant workers, a significant portion is female workers who go to several destination countries every year with the hope of better life. According to the recent global estimation, there are around 247 million international migrant in the world and among them 48 percent are woman. Repeatedly the women workers face a lot of problems and critical issues. They have to work for unlimited hours in the household in exchange of very low pay and inadequate food. Most of the time, they have to bear with sexual harassment in the workplaces. They do not get scope to fulfill the basic needs of life. But at the time of leaving the country they imagine the future life as a colourful one with a lot of hope.

Record shows that, remittance inflows of Bangladesh rose by 17 per cent in the fiscal year 2017-2018 and the volume is USD 14.98 billion. This figure is second highest for Bangladesh ever. In fiscal year 2014-2015, Bangladesh received USD 15.31 billion which is highest amount ever till date. The figure of remittance for fiscal year 2016-2017 was USD 12.77 billion. The experts opine that if all the foreign remittance of migrant workers is routed through the banking channel the remittance volume of Bangladesh for the last financial year would be more than USD 15.00 billion.

A major part of foreign remittance of Bangladeshi workers is mostly routed through illegal channels. Among all the illegal channels ‘hundi’ is most popular because of lower commission for sending money and higher exchange rate of foreign currency. Hundi is also popular for its quick and widespread channel. Most of the time the remittance reaches at receivers hand within half an hour to one hour. Often the migrant workers choose hundi for lack of knowledge and awareness. They send their hard earned money to their near and dear ones through illegal channel to get higher rates and prompt service. In most of the cases they do not even know that this channel is illegal and harmful for the country. Hundi traders frequently use mobile banking service and online banking service for fast transferring remittance to relatives of migrant Bangladeshis.

Each year more than 4,00,000 workers leave Bangladesh for overseas employment with a hope of changing their fate and life. These remittance earning workers face problems and difficulties again and again at every step till their departure and also afterwards. They experience paying high fees to agencies as migration charges and other formalities. The agencies provide them low skilled job, low wages and risky environment which do not protect the basic rights of the workers.

Bangladesh is one of the top five migrant worker sending countries in the world. Whereas in terms of remittance received, Bangladesh’s position is within top ten recipient countries. Foreign remittance is one of the top foreign currency earning sector of Bangladesh. This sector is very important for earning foreign currency. But this foreign currency earning sector becomes corrupted for some middlemen and fraudulent agencies.

A survey report states that only 10 per cent of Bangladeshi workers migrate to the foreign country through formal channels. As a result, a vast majority of migrant willing workers fall victim to fraudulent activities, leading to loss of their lifetime savings and assets, harassment and sometimes last destination routed to imprisonment. Government should formulate some special programs with a view to increasing awareness of the people in grassroot level about the procedure of migration to foreign countries and post-migration legal channels of sending home foreign remittance. Thus, economic development of Bangladesh could be promptly accelerated by greater empowerment of the migrant workers.