No new initiatives for expatriate workers in proposed budget
Sector insiders had hoped that at least remittance incentives would be increased this time, but it has remained at 2.5%.
There is no new initiative for expatriate workers in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25).
Sector insiders had hoped that at least remittance incentives would be increased this time, but it has remained at 2.5%.
"The remittance sent by expatriate workers is playing a significant role in increasing the foreign exchange reserves and making the country's economy self-reliant by reducing dependence on foreign aid," Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said while placing the proposed budget in the parliament today (6 June).
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The minister, however, mentioned about the skill development initiatives like setting up more technical training centres that were taken earlier.
Industry insiders said they were hoping this budget would provide some relief by introducing new programmes, including schemes and various incentives to address their woes.
"There is no allocation for migrant welfare in the new budget. It all goes as a revenue budget. The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment takes various projects for them from the money given by the workers," said Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman of WARBE Development, an organisation that works for migrant welfare.
"We have been demanding budget allocation for the welfare of workers in the embassies abroad for a long time. There was also a demand for setting up hostels for women workers abroad. But none of these were fulfilled," he added.
Stating that the remittance incentive should have been at least 5%, he said, "The remittance of expatriates can be at least $30 billion if Hundi is stopped. But even now, the price of taka against the dollar is less in the banking channel than in Hundi, so people are sending money through the system."
Since the fiscal year 2019-20, the government has been offering a 2% incentive to encourage legal remittance transfers by preventing Hundi transactions.
In 2022, this incentive was increased to 2.5%.
The new budget proposed an allocation of Tk1,217 crore, seeking Tk456 crore for operating expenditure and Tk760 crore for development expenditure for the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.
This is an increase of Tk199 crore compared to last year's Tk1,018 crore. The allocation is 0.15% of the total budget.
