Based on the most recent data from Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh received the largest amount of remittances in the fiscal year 2023–24, up from third place in the previous fiscal.
Remittances from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increased by 53%, or USD 1.61 billion, to USD 4.54 billion in the 2023–24 fiscal year from USD 3.03 billion in the 2022–23 fiscal year, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank. The US and UK come in second and third, respectively, with USD 2.96 billion and USD 2.79 billion.
The Middle East nation dropped to fourth place as inflow remittance fell by 27%, or USD 1.03 billion, to USD 2.74 billion in the 2023–24 fiscal from USD 3.77 billion in the previous fiscal amid a sharp decline in sending remittances through legal channels. In the fiscal year 2022–2023, Bangladesh received the largest volume of remittances from Saudi Arabia.
The spike in remittances from the UAE surprised those in the banking industry because Bangladesh has not been exporting a lot of labor to the Gulf nation lately. The nation’s worker pay did not increase either. Thus, bankers speculate that there could be a “different reason” behind the increase in remittance inflow from the United Arab Emirates.
The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) reports a steady decline in the export of labor to the United Arab Emirates. In 2022, Bangladesh deployed slightly more than 100,000 workers; in 2023, 98,000 workers; and in January–June of 2024, almost 33,500 workers.
Bangladesh exported about 2.1 million workers to the UAE and 3.9 million workers to Saudi Arabia between 2004 and June 2024. Though Saudi Arabia took more workers, remittance fell while it was the opposite for the UAE.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of private sector Mutual Trust Bank, told Prothom Alo it seems the remittance received from UAE does not seem to be sent by workers only. The growth in manpower export to the Gulf country was not as much as the growth in remittance, which is why there might be other reasons for the surge in the inflow of remittance from the UAE, he added.
Economists and labour market experts said Dubai in the UAE, has become a new destination for laundering money from Bangladesh, and for that, a portion of the laundered money might be repatriated to enjoy the incentives, then the money is being siphoned out of the country again.
The Center for Policy Dialogue’s (CPD) research head, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, told Prothom Alo that the data on labor shipped to the Gulf nation during the last few years does not align with the growth in remittances from the UAE.
It is known that money is laundered aboard in various ways, and, for this, Bangladesh Bank can scrutinize whether the laundered money is being repatriated as remittance to enjoy the incentives, he added
