IANS

Dhaka

Overseas jobs for remittance-reliant Bangladesh in the first three months to March this year plunged nearly 11% compared to that in the same period a year ago, an official said yesterday.

Quoting the Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) data, the official said that “96,068 people found jobs abroad in the first three months until March against 107,626 in the same period of last year.”

Overseas employment of March was also about 10% down from that in the same month a year earlier, said the BMET official who preferred to be unnamed, Xinhua reported.

Some 33,358 Bangladeshis went abroad with jobs in March this year, the BMET data showed.

According to sources, fresh employment opportunities for Bangladesh’s foreign job seekers continued to suffer from the brunt of global financial crunch in many major traditional world
markets.

They said the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been a sustained labour market for the last couple of years despite a global economic recession, from the middle of 2012 squeezed its doors for Bangladeshi passport holders, citing Dhaka’s failure to resolve its security concerns over identification and fake documents.

Sharp fall in UAE jobs for Bangladeshis also dealt a big blow to the remittance-reliant country’s millions of foreign job aspirants.

The latest BMET data showed only 5,210 Bangladeshis found jobs in UAE in the first quarter of 2013, down from nearly 100,000 during the same period in 2012.

The country also suffered a blow in 2013 when some 409,253 Bangladeshis found jobs abroad, down from 607,798 in 2012.

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman has recently said the growth in inflow of remittances was significantly dented during the first half of the current fiscal year 2013-14 (July 2013-June 2014) mainly due to sluggish export of
manpower.

Inflow of remittances from some 9mn Bangladeshis fell by about 6% year on year to $10.47bn in the first three quarters of the 2013-14 fiscal year (July 2013-June 2014), showed the official data released by Bangladesh Bank last week.

The government is desperately trying to expand its labor market particularly into the East Asian countries, including Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, said the governor.

According to the central bank of Bangladesh, remittances, a major source of foreign exchange for Bangladesh, now stand at around 10% of the country’s GDP or gross domestic product, rising from 5% of GDP in the beginning of 2000s.

IMF projects less than 6% growth

The IMF has projected a less than 6% growth rate for Bangladesh this year, saying that months of unrest and uncertainty in the run up to the January general elections has taken a toll on the country’s economy.

“Real GDP growth is expected to be below 6% for fiscal year 14 (July 2013-June 2014) as unrest and uncertainty in the run-up to the January 2014 general elections have taken a toll on the Bangladesh economy,” said IMF official Rodrigo Cubero, who recently led a delegation to Bangladesh.

Cubero said imports, remittances, tax collections, and credit growth have all slowed.

“Inflation has edged up, largely due to food supply disruptions. Exports, however, have proven resilient, helped by Bangladesh’s growing share of the global textile market. Provided political stability continues and uncertainty abates, growth should rise above 6% in fiscal 15,” he said.

The IMF mission visited Dhaka during March 19-April 2 to conduct the fourth review under the three-year, $985.66mn, extended credit facility (ECF) arrangement.

The mission met with the minister of finance, minister of planning, finance secretary, banking secretary, Bangladesh Bank governor, other senior officials, and development partners.

Cubero said throughout the recent turbulent period, macroeconomic policies have been sound, the government’s economic programme remains on track, and there has been good progress on structural reforms.

As a result, the mission and the authorities have been able to reach a staff-level agreement on the quantitative targets and policies needed to complete the fourth review under the ECF arrangement, a statement issued by the IMF said.

This agreement is subjected to review by the management and the executive board of the IMF.

Upon the executive board’s completion of this review, which is expected in May 2014, about $140.5mn would be made available to Bangladesh, it said.