Expatriate income is the worst decline in Bangladesh

Expatriate income or remittance received in every country in the world. However, expatriate income among the countries has decreased most in Bangladesh and India. In comparison, the decline in expatriate income in Pakistan and Sri Lanka was not so much.

The World Bank says, the decline in expatriate income or remittance is now a global trend. This trend continued for two years. The same trend in the current year of 2017. As the global remittance decreased by 1 percent in 2015, it decreased 2.4 percent in 2016 to 429 billion or 42 billion dollars.

The World Bank analyzed expatriate income situation in Bangladesh in their September update of 'Update Development'. According to the report, the expatriate income in all the countries declined, but due to its deepness and continuity, the situation is worse Bangladesh and India. This means that the expatriate income in both of these countries has decreased more and it is continuously decreasing. Bangladesh and other developing countries get the most exotic income, mainly from the Middle Gulf countries. The main source of income for these countries is fuel oil. And due to the decrease in the price of this fuel oil, the expatriates got hit. Gulf countries have adopted various types of monetary policies because of the reduction in revenue from oil. For example, imposing taxes on non-resident citizens, increasing fuel costs and reducing subsidies. For these reasons, the cost of living in the country has increased. And this has affected the expatriate income flow.

Bangladesh situation
In the last fiscal year 2016-17, the expatriate income decreased by 14 percent. In the fiscal year, expatriates sent 1,276 million dollars. And in the previous fiscal year (2015-16) the expatriate income comes to $ 1, 493 crores. In this fiscal year, the expatriate income was two and a half percent. In the last fiscal year 2014-15, the expansion of the expatriate income was 7.7 percent. Although in the first two months of the current financial year (July-August) of the fiscal year 2017-18, the expansion of the expatriate income was about 16 percent. It is believed that it was due to the Eid.

Bangladesh is also very dependent on Gulf countries for expatriate income. 60 percent of the total expatriate income comes from these countries. Excluding expatriate income from all other Gulf countries except Qatar, Especially in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, the number of expatriate income has declined.

Although the income decreased, the number of people who went to work abroad did not decrease but rather increased. According to the World Bank report, the number of Bangladeshi nationals in the Gulf countries increased 54 percent in 2016-17. During this time, 7 lakh 51 thousand 410 people have been working in Gulf countries. This figure is 84 percent of total manpower export in the last fiscal year. Most are Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Singapore. In spite of having so many people, how many people have returned at the same time, there is no reliable data, the World Bank has said, one of the four women is the one who has gone to new people. They are going to pay very little. This is another reason to reduce expatriate income.

Why is the decreasing
According to the World Bank report, Bangladesh Bank conducted field trials for reasons of reduced income. It has been found that informal routes are being used to send money in expatriate income, especially from the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States. Better to say, the amount of expatriate income has fallen from the United States, from the number of quantities. Different types of mobile banking methods are being used in sending expatriate income. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) also found that the use of mobile banking and Hundi has increased a lot in the year 2011 for sending expatriate income compared to 2013. One of the reasons for this is the difference in exchange rate, quick money transfer, and low cost.

The World Bank has finally said that despite the decline, this is still one of the main sources of foreign exchange earnings of Bangladesh. This income is more than total debt and foreign investment. Besides, a large number of families in the rural areas of Bangladesh are dependent on this expatriate income. Thus, if the expatriate income continues to decline, the overall economy will have adverse effects.