Remittance management

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It should be obvious that the regular large flows of remittances, generally, are helping more and more consumption in the country. Typically, receivers of remitted money spend the amounts on buying lands, ornaments, luxury goods, spending for weddings and other status symbols and sheer consumption on day to day necessaries. Very little can be traced back to spending on the establishment of industries or related productive activities that can help employment and economic growth.
There is also another unwanted side to remittance and this is inflation. The remitted money is helping to swell the total flow of money in circulation without corresponding level of productive activities. The result is monetary inflation. Greater purchasing power in the hands of families who are the beneficiaries of remittances and it seems that there is now not a single village in the country without some individuals working overseas, is helping to drive demand upwards for many consumption items and also pulling up their prices in the process.
It is imperative to start a process that would lead to guiding of remitted resources more and more into production activities.

Anwarul Kabir
Wari, Dhaka