Forex earners continue to return home
Monday, 13 April 2009
FE Report
Bangladesh, an economy reliant on remittances, Sunday saw the return of around 450 migrant workers from abroad, officials said.
Officials said the workers returned in droves from Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia- all hit hard by the ongoing global financial crisis- in different flights.
Some of them were sacked by their overseas employers, officials said adding that many of them had been working there for several months without any wages.
The returnees alleged that recruiting agencies in Bangladesh and their employers abroad had cheated them.
They were not offered jobs as per the promises made by the local recruiting agencies when they left the country for better opportunities, they told reporters at Zia International Airport.
They even did not receive any help from the Bangladeshi missions in those countries, they added.
The Employment Ministry has already admitted that about 300 workers are returning home every day.
According to official data, nearly 22,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers returned home in the first quarter of the current year, majority of them from Dubai, which became a magnet for Bangladeshi workers in recent years.
In March alone, over 3,000 Bangladeshis returned home from Dubai.
Bangladesh's 6.3 million-plus overseas workers and millions of others who live abroad sent home US$9 billion in remittances last year.
Bangladesh, an economy reliant on remittances, Sunday saw the return of around 450 migrant workers from abroad, officials said.
Officials said the workers returned in droves from Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia- all hit hard by the ongoing global financial crisis- in different flights.
Some of them were sacked by their overseas employers, officials said adding that many of them had been working there for several months without any wages.
The returnees alleged that recruiting agencies in Bangladesh and their employers abroad had cheated them.
They were not offered jobs as per the promises made by the local recruiting agencies when they left the country for better opportunities, they told reporters at Zia International Airport.
They even did not receive any help from the Bangladeshi missions in those countries, they added.
The Employment Ministry has already admitted that about 300 workers are returning home every day.
According to official data, nearly 22,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers returned home in the first quarter of the current year, majority of them from Dubai, which became a magnet for Bangladeshi workers in recent years.
In March alone, over 3,000 Bangladeshis returned home from Dubai.
Bangladesh's 6.3 million-plus overseas workers and millions of others who live abroad sent home US$9 billion in remittances last year.