8.10 lakh Bangladeshis to be employed overseas

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that there is a plan to ensure overseas employment of 8.10 lakh Bangladeshi workers.

In the current fiscal year, Bangladesh has already sent 8.77 lakh workers abroad till May this year.

In his budget speech, the finance minister also said that there is a plan to provide skill development training to 5.2 lakh workers in different trades.

"In FY2020-2021 the growth of remittance stood at 36.1%. However, since the very beginning of FY2021-2022, the income from remittances slightly decreased," the minister noted.

The finance minister said, "I am proposing to keep the same rate of incentive for remittance in the next fiscal year.

"With a view to encouraging remittance through legal channel, we raised the rate of incentives 0.5% point to 2.5% from January 2022."

He informed that government has withdrawn the mandatory provisions for submission of earning documents of the remitters in the case of availing cash incentives against remittances exceeding the amount of $5,000. "As a result, in recent months the flow of remittance has begun to increase again," he said.

"It is expected that a satisfactory growth of remittance will be back on track soon," he hoped.  

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has placed the Tk6,78,064 crore national budget for FY23 at Jatiya Sangsad according top priority to safeguarding marginal people from inflation fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

This is the fourth budget of the third consecutive term of the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also the overall 51st budget of the country.

The proposed budget is Tk74,383 crore higher than the original budget size of the FY2021-22 fiscal year, which was Tk6,03,681 crore.