A cabinet committee on Tuesday decided to provide subsidy for pulling down the cost the expatriate Bangladeshis pay for sending remittance home.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet committee on skill development, manpower export and remittance chaired by finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.
Officials attending the first meeting of the committee said the Bangladesh Bank had been asked for devising a policy in this regard.
The meeting observed that expatriate Bangladeshis, mainly low income group sending less than $200 monthly, had to bear higher cost for sending remittance.
Without encouraging the group, the inflow of remittance that plays an important role in the country’s economy might suffer.
An UNCTAD report last year revealed that least developed countries, including Bangladesh, paid one-third more than the world average to send remittances.
The report said the worldwide average cost of remitting money was 9 per cent, but it was 12 per cent for the LDCs.
The committee was told that the inflow of remittance stood $54 billion in the last four years and nine months, compared to $15.23 during the five-year tenure of the immediate past political regime.
There are 8.4 million Bangladeshis working in 157 countries across the globe.
The committee observed that the cost of manpower sending should be reduced further to keep the steady outflow of Bangladeshis seeking overseas jobs.
-With New Age input
