Remittance inflow from GCC-states to rise in future

FE Team | Published: January 15, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Nizam Ahmed Inflow of remittances from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-countries to Bangladesh is expected to rise in the coming years, as most of the countries have intended to hire more manpower from here, officials and traders said Sunday. The engagement of more overseas workers has become imperative, as the oil-rich countries have taken massive plans to further develop the region into a showcase of the world, they said. Qatar has already started building and further upgrading sports venues, roads and highways, as it is going to host the World Cup Football in 2022. The economic bloc, comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has taken plans to invest some $1.5 trillion for further upgrading their respective countries with major and super structures by 2020, according to officials at the Ministry of the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment. Following the development plans of the GCC, the relevant ministries and manpower exporting agencies in Bangladesh are preparing to send more workers to the Gulf region, they said. "We expect that the GCC countries, mainly the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will take more Bangladeshi workers for implementing the development plan," a senior official told the FE. There are great prospects for exporting more manpower to the GCC countries, as the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia have recently shown much interest to take more workers from Bangladesh. Nearly 610,000 workers were sent abroad with employment in different countries including the GCC in 2012 against some 568,000 in the previous year, according to the officials. The GCC hires overseas workers mainly from the South Asian countries. So, manpower export to and remittance flow from the bloc to other South Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, are also expected to rise further, traders engaged in manpower business said. India was the top recipient of remittance in the world with $70 billion. With remittance of $66 billion China was the second, while the Philippines and Mexico were third each with $24 billion. With $14 billion plus, Bangladesh and Pakistan were placed behind Egypt, which received $24 billion as remittance in 2012. Remittance from the GCC countries to South Asian countries rose more than 12 per cent to nearly $110 billion in 2012, said data at the global desk of the UAE Exchange Bangladesh earned more than $14 billion in 2012, while the total remittance flow to the country in 2011 was $13 billion, according to information retrieved from the Bangladesh Bank. The prospect of getting more remittance from the GCC has also become high, as the countries under the bloc are also continuing to diversify their respective economies to various new sectors, like - tourism, finance and infrastructure, in order to reduce dependency on oil. Besides South Asia, the outflow of remittance from the GCC to the East Asia and the Pacific regions also rose more than 7.0 per cent to around $114 billion in 2012. The Middle East and the North Africa also received $47 billion last year, marking a rise of 8.4 per cent over the previous year, according to the UAE Exchange. As per the World Bank (WB) estimation, the growth of remittance is expected to be higher during 2013-15. The growth of flow remains robust in regions that rely on remittance flows from the US, the GCC and Russia. Worldwide remittance flow, including those to high-income countries, was around $534 billion in 2012, and it is projected to grow to $685 billion in 2015, according to the latest issue of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief. Officially recorded remittance flow to developing countries was about $406 billion in 2012, up by 6.5 per cent from $381 billion in 2011. Increasingly harsh policies towards migrants in many destination countries, especially in Europe, however, could trim the flow of migrants in the future and subsequently weaken remittance flow, said the WB. More than eight million Bangladeshi workers are now engaged across the world.