http://www.newagebd.com/2008/apr/26/met.html
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Scared expats sending more money home from KSA
Staff Correspondent
Remittance inflow from Saudi Arabia, single biggest overseas job
market for Banglade****s, continued to increase since the beginning of
this year amid de****tation fears.
Banglade****s living in the kingdom sent home $260 million in March,
up from the average monthly inflow of about $158 million during the
July-December period of 2007. The amount was $215 million in February
and $223 million in January.
Bangladesh=EF=BF=BDs job market in the kingdom suffered a major setback
d=
ue
to some steps taken by the authorities there against lawbreakers and
misdeeds by a section of private recruiters since January.
The latest recruitment policy for foreign workers in the kingdom
came as a fresh blow as it limits job offers only to skilled medical
and engineering professionals.
About 1.75 million Banglade****s are working in the kingdom and most
of them are blue-collar workers employed in household and farming
jobs.
The sudden jump in remittance inflow surprised the government,
which is lobbying the Saudi Arabian authorities for securing the job
future of Banglade****s there. Officials considered it as a bad signal
as de****tation fears prompted workers to send home as much money as
they can, exhausting their savings.
Banglade**** workers often complain of lower pays that make their
living in the kingdom difficult. Many of them say their two-year
initial job term was too small to recover the cost, which averages Tk
2.5 lakh for each migrant worker.
Quoting Bangladesh ambassador SM Ikramul Haque, the Saudi Gazette
on March 25 re****ted that the minimum salary for Banglade**** workers
would be raised from Saudi Riyal 400 to 550 effective from July 1.
This increase will be in addition to food allowance, free housing,
and medical care, the envoy told the Banglade**** community in the
eastern province.
Bangladesh authorities earlier decided to fix minimum pays for
Banglade****s who seek jobs abroad, starting with Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi deputy labour minister in Dhaka earlier in April said his
country would not close the door for Banglade**** workers under its new
recruitment policy.
=EF=BF=BDWe did not impose any restriction whatsoever on recruitment of
workers from Bangladesh. We=EF=BF=BDve updated our labour laws and we are
trying to bring about a balance among incoming labourers in Saudi
Arabia,=EF=BF=BD said Ahmed Abdulraham Al-Mansour.
He also offered to help Banglade**** jobseekers gain skills and
learn the culture of the kingdom to comply with its newly-introduced
recruitment policy for foreign workforce.
In July-March period of the current fiscal year, the country
received about $5.7 billion remittance from expatriate Banglade****s
and of the amount, $1.64 billion came from Saudi Arabia.
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