Bangladesh received a record $6.56 billion in remittances in 2007 from a record number of nearly 5 million expatriate workers, a senior government official said on Wednesday. About 833,000 workers were cleared for foreign employment last year, also a record, said Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, an official responsible for overseas employment and expatriates' welfare.
"In January, nearly 92,000 workers found employment abroad, which is an all-time record," he told reporters. He said that booming economies in the Middle East and the Gulf region, as well as ageing population in European countries and rising skills of Bangladeshi workers were driving demand for Bangladeshi labour.
In 2006 about 4.6 million overseas workers sent home $5.5 billion. Remittances are a lifeline for the poor country's economy and its second biggest source of foreign income behind textile exports. The majority of overseas workers work in the Middle East, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
But Iftekhar said the authorities were looking to expand the number of host countries and, for example, a group of 100 workers recently left for Romania. "We are seeking to enter into more and more written agreements and also work with international organisations ... to organise this temporary migration in an orderly manner, and also protect our workers' rights," Iftekhar said.
"At the same time host countries are becoming increasingly concerned about both illegal migration and unlawful activities in their countries ... I have asked the ministry to adopt measures to raise awareness of these facts and strengthen pre-departure briefings to workers."
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